LEGAZPI CITY—The Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa) has once again picked Albay as one among its top summer destinations this year. The province has remained among the country’s top tourist destinations. Last year it posted a 7.1-percent share of foreign arrivals.
Philtoa President Cesar Cruz said that, other than the “sights and activities” as part of the major considerations in selecting top summer destinations, they also consider the local government’s political leadership and its commitment in providing a sustainable tourism program.
Banking on Albay’s global standard tourism destinations, Gov. Joey Salceda has pursued a strong and holistic program which involves the province’s cultural heritage, involving historical and religious edifices, old roads and houses, ethnic culinary wealth and recently sports tourism.
As a result, Albay’s domestic arrivals have doubled during the first three months of 2015, based on gate receipts at the Albay Parks and Wildlife, a favorite destination of local visitors, and a 40-percent increase of visitors at the Cagsawa Ruins Park.
Albay is holding its Daragang Magayon Festival 2015 in the last week of March and the whole of April, with culinary tourism on the spotlight, and where famous chefs around the country for a gastronomic showdown.
Salceda was among the initial recipients of the Department of Tourism’s Tourism Star Award for 2014, for exemplary excellence and dedication in driving the Philippine tourism industry forward, under the Tourism Star Philippines program. Philtoa has invited Salceda to address the organization’s second general membership conference on April 8 to update its members on Albay’s summer holiday program, highlighting recommended destinations. Philtoa had declared Albay as its 2013 summer destination.
Salceda said Albay’s strong position in the industry and the continuous upward surge in its performance has further opened more opportunities for investors in the hotel business, where more competitively priced rooms are needed to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists.
He said the “key is cheap accommodations and the key to cheap accommodations is more rooms, not just in Legazpi but in Daraga, Tabaco, Camalig, Guinobatan, Polangui, Santo Domingo, Bacacay. This should get Albay into the budget domestic tour packages.”