EAGA EYES 24-M TOURISTS THIS YEAR
General Santos City, Jan. 13, 1998 - The East Asia Growth Area (EAGA), composed of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, expects 24 million tourists this year, or about 30% of the projected 80 million tourists who will visit Asia.
Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Paul Dominguez projects Mindanao visitors to exceed 1.5 million this year, or a 10% increase over last year's total of 1.37 million tourists.
Among the places frequented by the most number of visitors are the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro, which accounted for one third of the total visitors. Both cities are now being developed as prime destinations for business conventions, international events, local festivals and for the honeymoon market.
The member-countries of the EAGA are now coordinating to package all four nations as a single tourism product to neighboring countries.
Dorothy Pabayo, Mindanao tourism official, said a multi-lateral working group is now identifying diverse attractions and tourism opportunities in the EAGA region to be packaged and marketed as a major world-class destination.
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