A total of 1,864,343 tourist arrivals was recorded in Davao City since last year and according to Mayor Inday Sara Duterte, this was mainly because of the strong support of the private sector to the local government.
This was bared Friday by the mayor during the 1st Tourism Conference conducted by the Davao Tourism Association held at the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites in downtown Davao — an occasion that she hopes will “germinate ideas that will allow us to create a tourism vision for Davao City.”
She admitted that the LGU’s 2017 target was to break the 2 million mark — until Martial Law happened.
Local tourism players here have said that all the negative media reports about Martial Law have contributed to the perception that Davao City was not safe.
But thankfully, Davao City has recovered.
“We were well on our way until Martial Law happened, but we bounced back in August, mainly because of the Kadayawan Festival — thanks to our strong, hardworking, and dedicated private sector,” she said.
She said tourism promotions and increasing tourist arrivals are something that the local government cannot do alone.
“We need you, the private sector, to work as one and decide what direction should Davao tourism take,” she said.
She said the tourism sector should align plans accordingly — even as she promised that the City Government will do its part in creating the proper policies, building infrastructures, and ensuring that people are safe and secured.
“We acknowledge that a major part of tourism involves attracting investments, sustaining land, sea, and air route connectivity, and maintaining peace and order,” she said.
She also urged the tourism sector to make Davao City friendly and attractive to tourists by “sprucing up your establishments and keeping your surroundings clean and coming up with new and exciting activities and tour packages to cater to different travelers.”
She also called on local artists to create murals and art corners, while encouraging the Halal Council to “push further in order for us to certify more establishments in the face of coming Air Asia flights to and from Kuala Lumpur in December.”
“And more importantly, all of us should aim for achieving international standards,” she said.
Davao City has also embarked on sports tourism — kicking off with next year’s hosting of Ironman 70.3 triathlon, the Davao Regional Athletics Association Meet, and in 2019, the Palarong Pambansa.
“Please undertake the necessary preparations to ensure that we can cater to the magnitude of arrivals – in terms of the quality of our accommodation, entertainment, leisure and dining options, and facilitation services – so that the delegates may leave Davao City with good words and fond memories and make many return trips,” she said. CIO
