West Visayas Celebrates Visit Philippines Year

Iloilo City (PNA) — The Department of Tourism (DOT) yearlong event-driven campaign “Visit Philippines Year (VPY) 2015” will kick off in Western Visayas with the upcoming 18 port calls of luxury cruise ships in Boracay, the ASEAN Supreme Court Justices Summit and the APEC Meetings which are scheduled to happen from January – October of this year in Bacolod City, Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan and Iloilo City.

DOT Region VI Regional Director Atty. Helen J. Catalbas said “it’s Visit Philippines every year in Western Visayas considering that hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists come to the Philippines because of this region. Millions of tourists from all over the Philippines also come over here to enjoy the region’s top destinations”.

Director Catalbas cited the presence of the five airports namely Kalibo International Airport, Caticlan Airport, Iloilo International Airport, Bacolod-Silay Airport and Roxas Airport, two of which cater to direct international flights.

This improved air connectivity is one of the reasons why Western Visayas is frequently visited by tourists. “Kalibo International Airport caters an average of 18 domestic flights and 6 international flights daily while Iloilo welcomes an average of 44 domestic flights daily and four international flights weekly”, Director Catalbas added.

As part of the VPY 2015 campaign, DOT also launched its official website www.visitph2015.com, where local government units (LGUs) and private sector can register their events to attract domestic and foreign tourists to participate. The website targets to be the one-stop portal for all queries about traveling to the Philippines, the must-visit destinations and events in 2015.

“We urge our LGUs and private sector partners to post their events online so that tourists from all over the world can have direct access on the events happening in the region”, Director Catalbas concluded.

The partial report of DOT VI as of January 7, 2015 showed that Western Visayas hosted 2.4 million visitors in 2014. This figure will significantly improve as the February 9, 2015 deadline for submission approaches. (PNA) CTB/AJP/DOT6-PR/VLO