La Union tourist arrivals up by 54.25 % in first semester

July 28, 2018 Community Billboard

La Union has registered 472,891 tourist arrivals from January to June 2018 compared to 243,042 of the same period in 2017. This reflects a growth of 54.25%. This includes tourists that spent at least one night in La Union accommodations.
The Provincial Tourism Office also noted a 12.60% increase for Same Day Visitors and 41.89% increase for Overseas Tourist Arrivals from January to June this year compared to last year.
This impressive increase in tourist arrivals of the province is attributed to aggressive promotion, marketing and product development as well as excellent coordinated, and rapid development of major tourist destinations. The highest rise in guest nights’ arrivals was registered at the Municipality of San Juan that increased from 115,972 (2017) to 152,741 (2018), rising no less than 31.70%. Activities and festivals have also lured tourist arrivals this semester with the various tourism activities celebrated in the province.
Top tourist destinations include Urbiztondo Beach Surfing Area as the most visited site with 173,741 day tourist arrivals, PUGAD (Pugo Adventure) with 121,041, Tangadan Falls with 44,251, Bauang Grape Farm with 12,781 arrivals, and Bacnotan Bee Farm post with 7,807 arrivals.
New tourist attractions in the province this year that has been surging in popularity include the several food parks in the City of San Fernando and Municipality of San Juan that are visited by locals and foreign visitors. The top five foreign visitors came from Korea, China, Japan, Germany, and the United States of America.
The number of tourists in the province is expected for the coming months especially with the launching of the 13th La Union Surfing Break scheduled on the last week of October 2018.
Also, the province is now developing Agri-Tourism destinations that can be offered along with established destinations for its continuing vision to become the Heart of Agri-Tourism in Northern Luzon by 2025. Joy Ann L. Gurtiza, PITO-LU / ABN