Tourist arrivals in South Cotabato soared to 293,727 during the first nine months of the year, a tourism officer disclosed recently.
Tourism Officer Anna Liza Mondejar of the Arts, Culture, Tourism, Sports and Museum (ACTS) Promotions Unit confirmed that from January to September this year, total domestic arrivals reached 291.515 while total foreign arrivals numbered 2,212.
“Overnight Stay” visitors in the province, Mondejar added, totaled 59,771 of which 682 were foreigners.
Meanwhile for “same day visitors” or commonly called excursionists, the report showed that local tourists from the province numbered 110,264, visitors from other provinces reached 12,162 while foreigners accounted for 1,520.
Lake Sebu, the banner tourism site of the province topped the list among tourist destinations in the province frequented by tourists.
Other tourist sites visited include Linan Tarsier Sanctuary in Tupi, Mt. Matutum in Polomolok, Lake Holon / Mt. Melibingoy in T’boli, among others.
During the recent State of the Province Address of Governor Daisy Avance Fuentes, she disclosed that she is looking forward to finish tourism-infra projects in Lake Sebu, T’boli, Tupi, Tampakan and Koronadal City.
The plan include finishing the construction of the 7-Falls Circumferential Road, including the installation of Cable Cars , Canopy Walking and Lakeshore Boulevard at the Main Lake, operationalization of Lahit Tourism Facility, Small-Scale Mining Leg in T’boli, Fruit Park in Tupi, and Bio-diversity Corridor of Tampakan-Tupi.
Governor Fuentes also foresees the operationalization of PROTECH Center next year since site improvements have already started this year.
