DOT hoping for Western Visayas tourism recovery in 3 months

Tourism officials hope to woo back Chinese tourists to Western Visayas within three months as the August 23 hostage crisis in Manila caused a setback in the tourism industry. Regional tourism director Edwin Trompeta said his office has planned a promotional marketing activity to entice Chinese tourists to visit the region. “The DOT will do something about this through massive tourism promotions in Hong Kong," Trompeta said in an article posted on Iloilo-based news site The News Today. He said government agencies, tourism partners in China and Hong Kong, travel agencies, hotels, and other stakeholders are now working on their tourism strategies. According to Trompeta, tourist arrivals will pick up in the last three months of 2010 and may continue until January when the country has many festivals. He also noted that Chinese people make up most of the tourists in Western Visayas. Philippine tourism suffered a blow after the hostage incident on August 23 when a dismissed police officer hijacked a tourist bus with 21 Hong Kong tourists and four Filipinos. At the end of an 11-hour standoff, Mendoza and eight Hong Kong tourists were killed. Trompeta said the August 23 incident triggered a cancellation of millions of pesos' worth of bookings in Boracay Island, which hosts about 60,000 Chinese tourists every year. The Department of Tourism-Western Visayas figures showed that between August 23 and 26, 351 hotel bookings and reservations have been cancelled, translating to revenue losses of P7.439 million. The amount represents only room costs. The potential expenses on meals, transportation, and other expenses could have reached P20 to 30 million. Trompeta said about 160,000 Chinese tourists also visit Iloilo every year. He said they come to see the Dinagyang highlights in January and other festivals in nearby provinces. –VVP, GMANews.TV