ATN
LEGAZPI CITY—FRENCH TOURIST ARrivals in the Bicol region rose by 2,229 percent from 912 in the first two quarters of 2007 to 21,247 over the same period this year, the Department of Tourism here said.
“This is an astounding leap,” said Maria Ong-Ravanilla, Bicol tourism regional director. She said the filming of the French edition of the popular reality game show “Survivor” early this year in Caramoan, Camarines Sur, was a major factor.
France was fifth in terms of tourist influx in Bicol in 2007 but it suddenly climbed to the top spot, placing United States second with 11,847, Japan with 5,032, Germany with 2,844, and Australia with 2,385.
In 2007, she said the Bicol region ranked sixth among other regions with total tourist arrivals of 897,680. Bicol was seventh in 2006 and ninth in 2004 and 2005.
Top tourist attractions in Bicol are Donsol town’s whale shark interaction in Sorsogon, Albay’s Mayon volcano, and the Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex in Pili town.
Ravanilla said for the first two quarters of 2008, the tourism industry earned a gross income of around P305 million and has generated a total of 198,539 jobs.
“Our gross receipts amounted to around P443 million for the whole of 2007, but now, for only the first two quarters of 2008, we have already earned 69 percent of that,” Ravanilla said.
The “French Survivor” started airing in the first week of July and has been viewed by some 10 million viewers from French-speaking countries in Europe and Canada.
Caramoan Peninsula, which was only known to backpackers before it found fame on French Survivor, boasts of virgin, powdery white sand beaches with crystal blue waters, rock formations and rich flora and fauna. Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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