Western Visayas earned more than P70 billion from local and foreign tourists in 2023, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT-6).
The region’s tourism receipts increased to 70, 009, 383, 662.06 last year from 53, 301, 360, 880.40 in 2022, data from DOT-6 showed.
The region accommodated 5.36 million tourists in 2023, higher by 22.88 percent compared to 4.36 million tourist arrivals in the preceding year.
DOT-6 assistant regional director Phoebe Zelie Areño said of last year’s tourist arrivals, only 550,000 were foreign and overseas visitors while the rest were domestic travelers.
The province of Aklan, where Boracay Island is located, accounted for the highest tourism revenues in 2023 at P44.43 billion. It recorded P886, 283 tourist arrivals.
Iloilo City came in second with P8.29 tourism receipts (886, 283 tourist arrivals), followed by Bacolod City, P7.1 billion (780,916); Negros Occidental, P6.22 billion (694, 015); and Iloilo province, P2.269 billion (318,535).
Capiz generated P689.32 million tourism revenues from 196, 844 tourist arrivals. It was followed by Antique and Guimaras with tourism receipts of P564.89 million (149, 509) and P427.57 million (133, 818), respectively.
This year, the DOT-6 targets to register 5.6 million visitors in Western Visayas, higher by five percent than 2023’s tourist arrivals.IMT
