Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said he is re-launching his tourism program called “A Tourist is a Friend,” because tourists continue to contribute to the economy of Bacolod.

Leonardia, a former Tourism Department official, said he had adopted the program that was very successful in the early 1980’s.

He said, “If tourists feel safe and their stay here is pleasant, they will become our walking marketing tools and that will happen if the community itself will fully support our tourism program and make tourists feel special, safe, secure and at home here.”

This is also good for international relationship and can develop personal friendships among people from different parts of the world, he said.

He said the arrival of direct flights from Korea to Negros Occidental is a breakthrough for local tourism and this will accelerate things for Bacolod.

This is something they had longed for, for so long, he said. At a time like this, when things are moving fast in Bacolod, and the economy is vibrant, progress in the city will really accelerate.

“As progress begets progress, more tourists will bring in more tourists,” he said.

The maiden ZestAir direct flight from Korea to Bacolod Saturday, which had 120 tourists on board, was piloted by Sunny Chan, a 1991 graduate of the St. John’s Institute in Bacolod City. This will be followed by 14 more flights arriving every Saturday and Wednesday.

ARRIVAL STATISTICS

Bacolod Tourism Officer Imogene Kana-an said that, in the last five years, Koreans have topped city records in terms of tourist arrivals. In December 2011, they recorded about 30,000 Korean tourists, she said.

Leonardia said he also had talks with Air Asia and the owner told him they will open a direct flight to Bacolod, and that it is not only flights from Singapore that will come to Bacolod. But he said, definitely, Bacolod is a market the airlines are always seriously considering, Leonardia said.

He also said the country manager and president of Philippine Airlines told him that they have never considered discontinuing their flights to Bacolod, as earlier reported by some media.

BACOLAODIAT

Meanwhile, Leonardia said the growth of the BacoLaodiat Festival has accelerated with the support of the Filipino-Chinese community and the participation of the people.

One thing that motivated him to come up with the BacoLaodiat Festival is when he saw the projection that in about 10 years from now, about 135 million Chinese will be going out of their country as tourists because of their economic growth, he said.

Leonardia said so many of them will come out during this season when they celebrate the Chinese New Year.

“If they come to Bacolod and we have something for them here, that will be like hitting two birds for them. They can travel, and still celebrate their Chinese New Year,” he added.*CGS

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