DUMAGUETE CITY -- The city government has attributed the steady increase in tourist arrivals here for the last three years to sports tourism in the country.
A data released by the City Public Information Office over the weekend showed that arrivals of tourists have grown significantly from 529,414 in 2016 to 651,115 in 2017 and to 704,689 in 2018 due to the promotion of sports tourism.
Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo said tourist arrivals improved due to various local, regional, national and international sporting events hosted by Dumaguete City and the province of Negros Oriental in the last three to four years.
Sports tourism refers to travel, which involves either observing or participating in a sporting event, which is now a fast-growing industry and is boosting the local economy of the host venues.
Remollo said the rising tourist arrivals would mean higher occupancy rates of hotels and resorts, bigger demand for food, supplies, transportation services, and labor thus impacting even ordinary vendors.
In 2017 and 2018, Dumaguete City was cited as the Philippines Best Sports Tourism Organizer and Runner-up as the Sports Tourism Destination of the country in 2017.
The sports tourism has not only put Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, and the Philippines as a whole on the international map but it generated revenues and created more jobs for Filipinos.
The Philippines recently hosted the 30th Southeast Asian Games which, according to the Department of Tourism, has brought more than PHP500 million in revenues for the country. The country won the Games’ overall title with 149 gold, 117 silver, and 121 bronze medals.
In 2020, Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental will host the Asean Schools Games, which is expected to attract not only hundreds of outstanding student-athletes from 11-member countries of Southeast Asia but also thousands of fans, family members, and tourists. (PNA)
