Quirino Province Tourist Arrivals Up by 61%

The Provincial Tourism Office (PTO) here reported that a total of 266,623 local and foreign tourists visited the province in 2018 as per data gathered from tourist attractions and accommodation establishments.

The number is 61.28% higher compared to the 2017 data.

Based on the PTO’s accomplishment reports forwarded to PIA, the said number yielded gross receipts close to half billion pesos or P492,076,000.00.

“The said amount was being enjoyed by our growing partners/stakeholders in the industry and believed to have immensely improved the quality of their lives,” Loida Acacio, project development officer said.

Among the top 5 favorites include Governor’s Rapids, Quirino Watersports Complex, Claredita Falls, Diamond cave and Aglipay Caves & Campsite.

The increase of tourist arrivals has been attributed to the development of new tourism destinations specifically the Quirino Watersports Complex (QWC) in Cabarroguis and Claredita Falls in Aglipay and the improvement of roads leading to various tourist spots, a DOT-DPWH convergence project also known as the Tourism Road Infrastructure Program (TRIP).

Another factor was the intensification of gathering of data from the source, a strategy applied by the tourism office to meet all point persons from data sources through a workshop in February 2018.

Through the workshop, the data gatherers were re-oriented on the system used for tourism data for purposes of arriving at tourism-specific policies for sustainable development, planning purposes and as a support for decision/policy making of the provincial/regional/national leaders. (ALM/TCB/PIA 2-Quirino)