CEBU CITY -- In, not out, is one way to describe how the Central Visayas economy is growing.The latest Central Visayas Regional Economic Situationer shows a continued boost in tourism, but the export industry has suffered a setback.
Cebu saw a 10.5 percent increase in tourist arrivals from 2010 to 2011, compared to from 2009 t0 2010.While this is not the highest percentage growth among the provinces in Central Visayas, there were almost a million visitor arrivals in Cebu for this year alone, the highest among the four provinces. In terms of percentage, Siquijor's tourist arrivals grew fastest at 18.8 percent, but in terms of actual numbers, the increase was only from 14,709 visitor arrivals last year to 17,467 this year. For the entire region, the increase for this year is more than double the increase last year, according to records of the Department of Tourism. In 2009, there were 830,099 visitor arrivals in Cebu, which rose to 872,702 in 2010 or an increase of 5.1 percent.
On the average, Central Visayas provinces recorded a 10 percent increase in visitor arrivals, with more foreign visitors than domestic. "Tourism, which impacts on various service industries including accommodation, entertainment, transportation and food service, remained buoyant," read the regional economic situationer prepared by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and presented to the Regional Development Council (RDC) full council meeting Friday. Central Visayas is still trying to regain the 2007 peak, when international tourist arrivals rose 26 percent. After a recession hit major economies like the United States, the 2009 international tourist arrivals grew only 5.5 percent. But this increased since then.
“Airline companies expanded their operations to meet the growing demand of tourists... Aside from the strong recovery of international tourism and the sustained growth of domestic tourism, the year-round promo fares offered by airline companies was a major boost for the aviation industry,” the economic situationer read.
Domestic flights increased from 4.21 percent last year to 17.9 percent this year. International flights rose from 4.95 percent to 28.8 percent. The number of sea voyages also increased by 10.5 percent due to tourism, and the ports of Cebu were noted by Neda to have done well.
“Together with tourism, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has become a major growth driver of the region’s service sector,” the situationer read. Most of the BPO companies are based in Cebu City.For the first six months of 2011, Central Visayas experienced a 4.1 percent inflation rate but this was considered “benign” by Neda, compared with inflation in other regions. The average inflation rate in the country is 4.3 percent. Agriculture seems to be rebounding after suffering losses in 2009. Agricultural production increased 10.4 percent between 2010 and 2011, compared to a decrease of 15 percent from 2009 to 2010. This year, though, there was a 1.3 percent drop in cattle production and Cebu was partly to blame because, according to Neda, livestock suppliers in the province chose to import cattle rather than use the local breed.
By: Jujemay G. Awit
(Sun.Star Cebu)
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