Skip to main content

Chinese dominates foreign tourist arrivals in Ilocos Norte




By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter

LAOAG CITY—Chinese nationals continue to dominate foreign tourist arrivals in this northern gateway of Luzon.

Of the more than three million recorded day-visitors in Ilocos Norte in 2018, thousands of Chinese tourists registered the most in terms of international tourists’ arrivals, according to Xavier Ruiz, Ilocos Norte tourism operations officer.

Other foreign visitors include Americans, Europeans and Koreans among others who visited the province’s major tourism attractions.

In 2018, the Ilocos Norte Tourism Office (INTO) reported 3,003,963 day-visitors, or an increase of 34% tourist arrivals compared to 2017.

“This is the sweet fruit of labor and the solidarity of all tourism stakeholders,” said Mr. Ruiz as he commended all tourism stakeholders and local government units (LGU) in the province for helping gather the number of tourists visiting their respective jurisdiction.

Latest record of the INTO shows the UNESCO-world heritage site of St. Augustine Church in Paoay, Ilocos topped the most-visited place with 509,449 visitors; followed by the Malacañang of the North with 387,118 visitors; Kapurpurawan Rock Formation in Burgos with 286,998 visitors; and the Paoay and Culilli Point Sand Dunes with 276,483 and 229,677 visitors, respectively.

In an effort to attract more tourists in the province, Mr. Ruiz bared plans to intensify campaign on sustainable tourism and one way to do so is to conduct orientation program on environmental protection among tourism ambassadors.

“We’ve done lectures before on first aid, safety, and understanding tourists, but I think it’s about time... to include basic lectures on how they can help in teaching our tourists to be more responsible,” Mr. Ruiz shared.

During the peak season of tourist arrivals during summer and Christmas seasons, INTO hires tourism ambassadors, first aid and utility personnel to assist local and foreign tourists visiting the province. This is also a means to provide alternative livelihood to local residents including students and senior citizens who want to earn for themselves.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become...

2020 Laoag City Traffic Code

  Republic of the Philippines Province of Ilocos Norte CITY OF LAOAG   SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD   EXCERPT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE 58 TH REGULAR SESSION OF THE 11 TH SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD OF LAOAG HELD AT THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD SESSION HALL, LAOAG CITY ON OCTOBER 14, 2020. PRESENT: 1.        Hon. Vicentito M. Lazo                                                 City Vice-Mayor/Presiding Officer Hon. Juan Conrado A. Respicio II                                              S.P....

Marcos town celebrates 3rd Pinakbet Festival

MARCOS, Ilocos Norte—Taking pride of this town ’s favorite Ilo cano dish, locally known as pinakbet, a mix of indigenous vegetables steamed in fish sauce, residents here ushered the opening of the third Pinakbet festival. “Pinakbet” came from the contracted Ilokano word ‘pinakebbet ’ which means “ shrunk ” or “shriveled.” As a way of thanksgiving, the Pinakbet festival is a repository of the town ’ s “ani” [harvest] festival being celebrated every month of March but this was later moved to December to accommodate more balikbayans wanting to join the festivity. Residents in this agricultural town derived most of their income from the harvest of high value crops, including rice, tobacco and corn as staple crops. This year, the week-long festivity highlighted a grand parade around the town plaza and a pinakbet cook fest at the municipal gymnasium to showcase the best pinakbet in town. A boodle fight followed suit. Earlier, a fun run was participated by various groups ...