Aurora Tourism Destinations Remain Largely Untapped Amid High Tourist Arrivals

The tourism industry in this province, located in a horseshoe-shaped coastal valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is booming and yet there is a vast potential that remains largely untapped.

Michael Palispis, provincial tourism officer, said tourist arrivals have been on the rise in the province since a decade ago despite that only 10 percent of its tourist destinations have so far been harnessed.

Based on the record of the Provincial Tourism Office, the tourist arrivals in the province have reached an all-time high of 770,000 in 2015.

Palispis, however, said that this figure could even be higher if other prospective tourist destinations in Aurora were developed, particularly in the northern part of the province.

“As it appears now, we were only able to maximize 10 percent of Aurora’s tourism potentials,” he said, explaining that the province is gearing for the further development of tourist spots in Dipaculao town and in the northern municipalities of Dinalungan, Casiguran and Dilasag, known collectively as the Dicadi area.

“Definitely, our direction is going up north and roads are now being concreted leading to tourist destinations,” he said.

He particularly cited the PHP200-million road network leading to the Casapsapan beach in Casiguran, which is now becoming famous because of its powdery white sand.

He said the road-concreting project is being undertaken under the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP), a convergence initiative of the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Aside from the improvement of infrastructure facilities leading to tourism destination, Palispis said the province needs to step up its promotional activities to keep pace with other tourism destinations in the country.

”The province has to sustain the growth of the tourism sector and be aggressive, especially when it comes to promotion,” he said.

He earlier said that the tourism industry in Aurora is still rising in terms of tourist arrivals but indicated a slowdown as the 2015 figures posted only a slight increase than in 2014.

Records showed that the number of tourists in 2015 reached 778,917, which is a 13.71 percent higher compared from 684,977 in 2014.

The 684,977 tourist arrivals in 2014, he said, were lower than in 2015 but it was a quantum leap from that of 2013 recorded at 272,182 or a whopping percentage increase of 151.66 percent.

Palispis said the slowdown meant that the province needs to step up its tourism promotion activities in order to invite more tourists.

“We need to be aggressive in our promotional activities so that tourists will continue to flock to Aurora and our arrivals will increase by leaps and bounds, percentage-wise,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ana Riza Mendoza, senior tourism operations officer, said that tourist arrivals in 2015 was at its highest in May with 191,182 tourist arrivals followed by 170,639 in April. The lowest recorded tourist arrivals were in October with 17,527 and in December with 18,692.

Former three-term governor and now Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, who was the sitting governor when tourism started to boom in Aurora, said the province “self-promotes” itself as a tourism haven with its pristine, white sand beaches, waterfalls, virgin forests and the historical and cultural sites.

The tourism industry in the province has been on an upswing since 2005 when only 8,744 tourists were recorded, representing a whopping 2,351 percent increase over the eight-year period up to 2012 where tourist arrivals reached 215,098.

From 8,744 tourists in 2005, the number of tourists in the province grew to 11,534 in 2006; 10,782 in 2007; 27,935 in 2008; 54,886 in 2009; 68,395 in 2010; 123,293 in 2011; 215,098 in 2012; 273,187 in 2013 and 684,977 in 2014. (PNA) BNB/ZST/JDA/PS