Tourist Satisfaction Survey Negros Oriental March 2012

Tourist Satisfaction Survey Negros Oriental March 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Negros Oriental Tourist Satisfaction Survey is a result of joint efforts work carried out by the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NOCCI), Saint Paul University, and the WE CAN Visayas & Caraga Project. This study could not have been realized without the serious contribution of the private and public stakeholders in Negros Oriental. A special gratitude should be addressed to all public and private offices that were involved in the preparation of this Study, additionally to survey respondents, who shared their time, their efforts and serious interest to provide all necessary information and data in advance and on time for a smooth preparation of this study. A special thanks goes out to John Jalandoni, Sector Unit Counselor for Tourism and Syndey Uy, both of NOCCI. This Study could not have been realized without the timely data encoding as performed by Ms. Maria S. Bernal.

2 FOREWORD

Working for the Enhancement of the Chamber & Association Network in the Visayas and Caraga (WE CAN – Visayas & Caraga) is a partnership between the Cebu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCCI) and the German AFOS Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development Cooperation. It aims to support trade and industry in selected areas in the Visayas and Caraga region through the strengthening of business membership organizations (BMOs).

One of the distinct methods utilized by the Program is the Sector Unit Approach (SUA), which provides a more efficient and structured way to serve BMO members. SUA aims to create an organizational platform where entrepreneurs can start to open up, to better identify their problems, to compare themselves with others (benchmarking), to define their own demand for services, to develop self-confidence and to improve their enterprises. At the same time it is necessary to involve Local Government Units (LGU) in the process as the harmonization of common strategies is essential for the economic growth of a community. According to the target area of WE CAN this is a crucial aspect to be taken into consideration.

Figure 1 illustrates the WE CAN working approach. After a BMO has identified its target sector WE CAN provides, among other tools, the option of undertaking an industry study in order to generate data and substantial information about the market and other aspects. The detailed knowledge about the particular market demand is a precondition to tailor further strategic steps within the working approach. The market drives the strategy and this is the entrepreneurial philosophy of WE CAN. Thus, the Tourist Satisfaction Survey of Negros Oriental was undertaken to give the economic development planners of the province quantitative basis for qualitative improvements.

Chart 1 THE WE CAN WORKING APPROACH

3 SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

. Majority of tourists visiting Negros Oriental are middle-aged adults. Their average age of 42 years is older than those of tourists in other destinations in the region. They usually travel as a couple or with relatives while as many as 22% still travel alone. With 54% female visitors, the gender ratio is almost balanced.

. Negros Oriental shows a rather typical pattern of visitors. While majority of tourists are foreigners, domestic visitors make up as much as one third of the market and form the largest group as a single nationality. Compared to the American-British-Australian (Anglo- Saxons) group (38%) and Europeans (25%), the share of Asian tourists is rather negligible (5%).

. There is a considerably distinct pattern among different nationalities when it comes to duration of stay, which complements total arrivals as a measure of the relative importance of different visitor groups. While domestic and other Asian tourists stay for an average of 3 nights only, Anglo-Saxons and Europeans extend their stay to 5-6 nights on the average.

. Overall, Negros Oriental is characterized by stays of about a half week or a long weekend. While 54% of guests leave after 3 nights, the average stay amounts to 4.6 days.

. After Beach Holiday (48.1%), Visiting relatives or friends and Diving are the top reasons to visit Negros Oriental. As of now Cultural Holiday as well as Adventure/Sports rank at the bottom of the list. Further development and marketing of manmade attractions can put additional points of interest on the map. Improvements in transport and packaged tours can attract more island hopping to increase the province’s share of the national cake.

. Tour operators are already a significant player in Negros Oriental, bringing to the province about a quarter of the visitors. However, the market share of self-organized trips is generally high in the Philippines. Over 70% of travelers to Negros Oriental like to book their trips on their own and prefer to be mostly independent during their travel to choosing a packaged offer. Negros seems not to be on the map of tourists following the printed travel guides.

. The top 5 area-related factors perceived as most important to the tourists are “personal safety and security”, “personal safety and security” “accessibility of attractions and accommodation”, “accessibility of the island”, “friendliness of local people” and “quality of accommodations”. Accessibility and therefore land as well as air and sea transport seem to be a priority among visitors to Negros, while security ranks as their number one concern.

4 . The friendliness of locals, personal security and overall value for money rank as the most important strengths of the destination and consequently can be found among the highest ranking items. Generally, respondents were either hesitant to voice negative perceptions or were just satisfied for the most part.

. Apo Island, Dumaquete Boulevard and the possibility to transfer to nearby Siquijor are rated as the top three attractions of Negros Oriental. Further development of man-made attractions and marketing of the already existing variety of points of interest can help to sharpen the profile of the province as tourist destination.

. The competitiveness of Negros Oriental’s touristic offer and quality of accommodation towards other domestic destinations is perceived as only similar or not as good, compared to other international destinations. Compared on a domestic scale, explicitly negative ratings are uncommon but the province has shortcomings that prevent it from outshining other tourism destinations in the Philippines. Thirty three percent (33%) of the respondents, however, like Negros Oriental more than other places. Especially safety and security is perceived as good.

. General satisfaction is high, with 90% of respondents rating the overall quality of the touristic offer as excellent or good. 98.5% will recommend Negros Oriental to friends and relatives. When given space to suggest improvements, enhancement of roads, better marketing of Negros Oriental as tourist destination and improved solid waste disposal were the three of the most frequent comments articulated by tourists. It is important to note that 66% of the respondents gave no response to the open question.

. Most tourists indicated a high degree of satisfaction about the accommodation they availed of. “Security & safety”, “Friendly customer service”, “Room comfort” and language skills turned out to be among the highest ranking accommodation-related factors most important to the tourists. Generally, respondents were either hesitant to give negative ratings or were just satisfied across the bord.

. Environmental protection at hotel level is a high priority among the respondents (almost 100%). Recently more and more enterprises also recognize that investments in natural assets are good business decisions rather than mere charity.

. When disaggregating preferences along origins of tourists, the top concerns are rather broadly shared across the different nationalities. Looking at our sample group, it seems that

5 cultural factors do not play that much of a role when it comes to customer preferences during their vacation.

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………………. … 1

FOREWORD…………..………………………………………………………………. … 2

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS……………………………………………………… .... 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS.………………………………………………………….…….. 5

LIST OF FIGURES.………………………………………………………………....…… 6

LIST OF TABLES.……………………………………………………………………...… 6

Introduction 7 Methodology 7 Profile of Respondents8 Gender & Age8 Nationality 8 Frequency & Duration of Stay 10 Type of Trip 10 Purpose of Travel 10 Travel Companion/s 11 Reason to Choose Negros Oriental 11 How Trips are Organized 12 Type of Trip Booked 12 Rating of Negros Oriental as a Destination 13 Quality Ratings - Destination 13 Rating of Local Attractions 16 Negros Oriental in Comparison to other Destinations 17 Suggestions for Improvement of the Destination 18 Rating of the Local Accommodation Sector 20 Quality Ratings - Accommodation 20 Reasons to Choose Particular Accommodation 23 Environmental Protection 23

7 LIST OF TABLES

Chart 1. The We Can Working Approach……………………………………... 2

Chart 2. Visitors by Age Bracket………………………………………...……... 9

Chart 3 Visitors by Gender……………...... ………………………………….. 9

Chart 4 Visitors by Nationality……………….…………………..…………….. 10

Chart 5 No. of Overnight Stays …………………...……………………….…. 10

Chart 6 No. of Visits to Negros Oriental...... ……………...………….10

Chart 7 Purpose of Travel…………………...…………………………..……. 10

Chart 8 Travel Companions…………………...... …………. 11

Chart 9 Reasons to Choose Bohol…………………..……………………….. 11

Chart 10 How trips are organized…………………...…...………………….…. 12

Chart 11 Type of Trip booked………………………………..……...…………. 12

Chart 12 Destination Rating – Relative Importance of Items..………...……. 13

Chart 13 Quality Rating of Touristic Offer & Touristic Infrastructure………. 14

Chart 14 Comparison to Other Destinations…………………..………………. 17

Chart 15 Accommodation Rating – Relative Importance of Items …………. 17

Chart 16 Quality Rating of Local Accommodation Sector ……………….…. 21

Chart 17 Reasons to Choose Particular Accommodation……………….….. 23

Chart 18 Environmental Protection ……………….………………………….. 23

Chart 19 Domestic Preferences – Destination ……………………………… 26

Chart 20 Anglo-Saxon Preferences – Destination ………………………….. 27

Chart 21 European Preferences – Destination ……………………………… 28

Chart 22 Asian Preferences – Destination …………………………………… 29

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Origin Countries …………………...………………………………. 9

Table 2 Rating of local attractions ……………………………...…………. 10

Table 3 Suggestions for improvements …………………..…...…………. 16

Table 4 Disaggregated preferences destination..……..…...…,,,………. 18

Table 5 Disaggregated preferences destination..……..…...…,,,………. 25

8 INTRODUCTION The Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NOCCI) has identified tourism as one of its focus sectors under the WE CAN Visayas & Caraga Sector Unit Approach (SUA), in line with the economic development priorities of the provincial government

Knowing one’s markets is the starting point for sound business decisions as well as for the design of conducive policies. Especially in the hospitality business, customer preferences are a core concern. While a Tourism master plan or roadmap has yet to be developed by Negros Oriental Province in line with national strategies, NOCCI has opined that more definitive data is required to form a solid basis for decision making. It is in this context that this study was carried out - to provide a more in-depth understanding about the perceptions that tourist carry about the touristic offer in the province and about their general priorities during their vacation. Similar efforts were made by business membership organizations in Bohol, Siquijor, Ormoc City and other parts of the archipelago.

Based on the responses of 405 survey participants, this paper provides a profile of respondents, information about the common type of trip booked as well as comprehensive ratings of Negros Oriental as a destination and of the local accommodation sector.

Armed with information generated in the course of this survey, the province, the local chamber, the tourism stakeholders with the support of “WE CAN Visayas and Caraga Program” may find the answers to the following questions:

 What conclusions can be drawn by the private sector and the LGU in Negros Oriental as to the viability of developing the local tourism industry?  What kind of support can WE CAN provide?  What should be the working strategy of the local BMO’s e.g. NOCCI?

METHODOLOGY

The research instrument was designed to capture information that would provide a profile of the travellers in terms of demographics, their reasons for travelling and type of trips booked as well as their perception of Negros Oriental as a tourist destination and a rating of the local accommodation sector. The survey instruments are attached as Appendix.

Saint Paul University, under the guidance of Director Rafael Arbon Duhaylungsod, was engaged to conduct data collection in the field. Facilitation of the research process and final

9 analysis were done by John Jalandoni of NOCCI and AFOS consultant Mathias Wolter, respectively.

A total of 405 Tourists were interviewed during their departure at main exit points like Sibulan Airport and Dumaquete Port, as well as in the different accommodation facilities and dining establishments. Tourists were defined as persons visiting the island either for leisure or for business, availing of commercial accommodation for at least one night. The survey period was March 2012. Interviewees were selected using the random sampling method.

10 PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS

This Chapter covers basic information like gender and age of visitors, duration of stay and relative importance of different origin countries.

GENDER & AGE

The succeeding charts show information on the demographics of the respondents.

Male Female No Data

The average age of respondents is 42 years. The majority of visitors to Negros Oriental are middle aged to older adults. Teens below 20 years of age don’t make up large shares of the local tourism market, with 3%, while younger “seniors” (51 and above) make up a quarter. The gender ratio is not fully balanced, with 54% female visitors.

NATIONALITY OF GUESTS

Negros Oriental shows a rather typical pattern of visitors. While the majority of tourists are foreigners, domestic visitors make up as much as one third of the market and form the largest group as a single nationality. Compared to Anglo Saxons (38%) and Europeans (25%), the share of Asian tourists is rather negligible (5%) in the case of Negros Oriental.

The top single origin countries, most visible in Negros Oriental, are the Philippines, United States of America and Australia.

Table 1: Origin Countries 11 Rank Nationality Percent Frequency 1 Filipino 32% 131 2 American 13% 53 3 Australian 11% 46 4 British 6% 26 5 French 5% 21 6 Canadian 5% 20 7 German 4% 18 8 Dutch 4% 17 9 Italian 3% 12 10 Korean 2% 8

It might be necessary to account for the average number of nights stayed to complement the analysis of total arrivals, when assessing the relative importance of different origin countries

DURATION OF VISIT

Chart 5: No. of overnight stays (Total: 405)

Among the questions asked to respondents were the duration of stay and frequency of visits to the island.

Negros Oriental is characterized by stays of about a half week or a long weekend. While 54% of guests leave after 3 nights, while the average amounts to 4.6%.

Table 2 Average Duration of Stay by Origin Origin Domestic Anglo Saxon European Others Asian Total Mean 3,0 5,2 6,0 7,0 3,1 4,6

There is a considerably distinct pattern among different nationalities when it comes to duration of stay. While Domestic and other Asian tourists stay for an average of 3 nights only, Anglo-

12 Saxons and Europeans extend their stay to 5-6 nights on average. When assessing the relative importance of different origin countries, it might be necessary to account for the average number of nights stayed to achieve a more accurate measure. Anglo-Saxons and Europeans stay longer than Filipinos and visitors from other Asian origins.

TYPE OF TRIP BOOKED

A lot of insights on priorities in tourism development can be gained by characterizing the common mode of travel to Negros Oriental. Visitors were asked about the purpose of their travel, their companionship as well as the way they were attracted to the island and how their trip was booked.

After Beach Holiday (48,1%), Visiting relatives or friends and Diving are the top reasons to visit Negros Oriental. As of now, the destination cannot gain much from Business Travel (5,7%)or Visitors undertaking a roundtrip through the Philippines (7,4%). These findings point to the potential of strengthening Negros share of the national cake. Improvements in transport and packaged tours can attract more island hopping. As of now Cultural Holiday as well as Adventure/Sports rank bottom of the list. Further development and marketing of manmade attractions can put additional points of interest on the map.

13 To further specify the character of trips to Negros Oriental, respondents were asked about their companionship. Only about 10% of visitors travel in a group of friends. The majority travels either with their partner or relatives with a combined share of two thirds. This points to the relevance of Negros as afamily destination. On the other hand , almost a quarter of visitors travel alone. The low significance of business travel indicated earlier is also reflected by the fact that only a small share of visitors travel with business Chart 9: Reasons for Choosing Negros Oriental partners. With respect to marketing and effective distribution channels it seems helpful to explore about how guests were attracted to the island and how they booked their travel. While “word of mouth” and internet sources are the most common responses when travelers were asked how the idea emerged to choose Negros, Travel agencies play a smaller role for the initial decision. Negros seems not to be on the map of tourists following the printed travel guides that are still quiet influential elsewhere.

Tour operators are already a significant player in Negros Oriental, channeling a quarter of visitors. Having said that, The market share of self-organized trips is generally high in the Philippines. Above 70% of travelers to Negros Oriental each like to book their trip on their own

14 and prefer to be mostly independent during their travel in comparison to choosing a packaged offer.

RATING OF NEGROS ORIENTAL AS DESTINATION

In an effort to capture a comprehensive customer feedback, respondents were asked to rate the touristic offer of the province along a variety of criteria, to indicate their favorite attractions in Negros Oriental and to compare the island to other destinations in the Philippines.

To asses customer preferences in more detail, respondents were asked to indicate the relative importance of certain items for their touristic experience. (Chart 12)This can be of great help to allign investment priorities to customer demands. A rating of the current state of the touristic offer and touristic infrastructure is covered in chart 13.

15 The top 5 items perceived as most relevant on a scale from “completely unimportant” to “very important” are “personal safety and security”, “personal safety and security” “accessibility of attractions and accommodation”, “accessibility of the island” and “friendliness of local people” and “Quality of Accommodation”. Accessibility and therefore land as well as air and sea transport seems to be a priority among visitors to Negros, while security ranks as number one concern. It is Important to note, that based on responses no item can be sorted out as beeing perceived as unimportant by a majority of guests. Even the last three items are still perceived as important by about 80% of respondents. (Chart 12 ,page 14)

16 When asked to rate the quality of the touristic offer and touristic infrastructure, most tourists showed a high degree of satisfaction across the board. Positive responses outweigh the negative or neutral ratings by far. The friendliness of locals, the personal security and overall value for money rank as the strength of the destination and consequently can be found among the highest ranking items. It is noteworthy, that the top concern in terms of preferences (Safety and Security) is also rated as satisfactory by a majority of redpondents. Generally respondents were hesitant to voice negative perceptions or were just satisfied for the most part. (Chart 13 ,page 15)

17 RATING OF LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

Apo Island, Dumaquete Boulevard and the possibility to transfer to nearby Siquijor are rated as the top three attractions of Negros Oriental. Further development of man-made attractions and marketing of the already existing variety of points of interest can help to sharpen the profile of the province as tourist destination.

Table 3 Attraction Ranking #1 Apo Island

#2 Boulevard

#3 Siquijor

#4 Dauin

#5 Antulang Beach Resort

#6 Balanan Lake

#7 Cathedral

#8 Beaches

#9 Valencia

#10 Dumaguete

#11 Siliman University

#12 Bell Tower

#13 Tierra Alta

#14 The Twin Lake of Balinsasayao

#15 Bais

#16 Forest Camp

#17 Bahura Beach Resort

#18 Sea Forest

#19 Casaroro Falls

#20 La Limar Beach Resort

NEGROS ORIENTAL COMPARED TO OTHER DESTINATIONS

When asked to compare Negros Oriental to other tourism destinations in the country along different criteria, a majority of respondents rated the island only as similar or less attractive as other places. While explicitly negative ratings are uncommon, the province has shortcommings in sticking out among the other tourism destinations in the Philippines.

Chart 14: Comparison to other domestic destinations 18

The general touristic offer and quality of accommodation were rated in a similar fashion, withonly a third each rating the province. as better. Safety and security can achieve a quiet high degree of satisfaction (41%).

Chart 15: Comparison to other international destinations

Compared on an international level, the shares of respondents rating Negros Dumaquete as less attractive increase to almost a quarter each. Having said that, that doesn’t hamper the solid one third share of respondents across the board, who like Negros Oriental more than other domestic or international destinations.

19 SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS OF THE DESTINATION

When given space to suggest improvements, better roads, as well as better marketing of the destination and solid waste disposal were the most frequent aspects articulated by tourists. It is important to note, that 66% of respondents gave no response to the open question.

Table 4: Suggestions for Improvement 1 Improve road structure 33 8% 2 Promoting tourism destination 19 5% 3 Improve waste disposal 18 4% 4 Improve public transportation 17 4% 5 Improve socio-economic security 17 4% 6 Improve tourism attractions and tour guide 12 3% 7 Improve coastal environment 4 1% 8 Support from the provincial tourism office 4 1% 9 Establish more restaurant and good food 4 1% 10 Improve airport facilities 3 1% 11 Improve fare rates for the tourist 2 0% 12 Improving traffic condition 2 0% 13 Improve port area 1 0% 14 More shopping malls 1 0% No Comment / Satisfied 268 66% Total 405 100%

GENERAL SATISFACTION

20 General satisfaction is high, with almost 90% of respondents rating the overall quality of the touristic offer as excellent or good. 98,5% will recommend Negros Oriental to friends and relatives.

21 RATING OF LOCAL ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

This chapter contains a comprehensive rating of the accommodation respondent availed of during their stay, in addition they were asked to indicate which factor eventually made them choose their particular resort as well as to comment on environmental issues.

QUALITY RATINGS - ACCOMMODATION

To asses customer preferences in more detail, respondents were asked to indicate the relative importance of certain items for their touristic experience. (Chart 15 ,page 20) This can be of great help to allign investment priorities to customer demands. A rating of the current state of the local accommodation sector is covered in chart 16, page 20.

Customer preferences - Relative importance of different items

The top 4 items perceived as most relevant on a scale from “completly unimportant” to “very important” are related to the broader aspects of safety (“Security and safety”, “Safety deposit box”) as well as service quality (“Room Service”, Daily Room Cleaning”) Business facilities and a conference room, on the other hand, are the last items, demanded by respondents in this sample. It is Important to note, that based on responses no item can be sorted out as beeing perceived as unimportant by a majority of guests. Even the last items are still perceived as important by about 70% of respondents. Even if business related facilities are being rated as totally unimportant by some of the typical leisure tourist, the share of respondents who might return for business - given proper MICE facilities are available - is not to be neglected. (Chart 15 ,page 20)

Quality rating of local accommodation sector

When asked to rate the quality of the accommodation they availed of during their trip, most tourists showed a high degree of satisfaction across the board. Positive responses outweigh negative ratings as indicated by the predominance of green towards red in the color coding of the following chart. “Security & safety”, “Friendly customer service”, “Room comfort” and language skills turned out to be among the highest ranking items. Generally, respondents were hesitant to give negative ratings or were just satisfied across the bord. (Chart 15 ,page 22)

22 23 24 REASON TO CHOOSE PARTICULAR ACCOMMODATION Direct recommendations by friends or relatives influenced about half of respondents in their choice of accommodation. The percentages of visitors attracted by, internet information printed travel guides and travel agencies are quiet balanced.

It seems as if guests compare and plan their trip ahead by using a variety of information channels. The potential of travel agencies can be further exploited. Aside from that, no magic bullet can be identified to attract bookings.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ON HOTEL LEVEL

Environmental protection on hotel level is a high priority among respondents.

25 A vast majority of almost 100% each indicated that visible measures on environmental protection and the untouched character of hotel surroundings are an important factor for their touristic experience..

The importance of the natural assets of the island for the local tourism industry and are widely recognized. Recently more and more enterprises also recognize that investments in those natural assets are good business decisions rather than mere charity. While above findings indicate a high awareness and demand for green business practices among customers one doesn’t have to start from scratch or invent the wheel over again. Good practices from other provinces are well documented.1

1 Finkel, Thomas (2011) „Greening the tourism value chain in Bohol”, Study commissioned by GIZ (Survey overseen and study co-authored by Mathias Wolter) 26 PREFERENCES BY ORIGIN OF TOURISTS

This chapter compares preferences of domestic tourists, anglo-saxon tourists and european tourists as well as other asian (non-filipino) tourists.

When it comes to criteria concerning the destination, we cannot find strong variation in preferences when we Table 5 Disaggregated preferences – Destination disaggregate the Domestic Anglo-Saxon European Other Asian responses by origin of 1 Personal safety Personal safety & Quality of Quality of tourists. & security security accommodation service in restaurants Criteria like safety and a 2 Friendliness of Accessibility of Personal safety Local cuisine desire for friendly hosts local people attractions and & security accommodation seem to be that much of 3 Quality of Local transport Accessibility of Local transport basic concerns, that they service in service attractions and service restaurants accommodation are widely shared without 4 Prices of food Accessibility of the Friendliness of Friendliness of regard of cultural and drinks are Island local people local people favorable background. The 5 Accessibility of Friendliness of local Accessibility of Prices of food accessibility aspect and the Island people the Island and drinks are favorable therefore improvements in tourist class transportation rank higher among foreign tourists, while Filipinos emphasize value for money when it comes to food and beverages and the Service quality in restaurants. The sample size of other asian visitors is to small to built meaningfull interpretations on the responses of this minority group. (Table 4.) For a detailed breakdown of the hotel level importance ratings see Charts 19-22, page 24-25- A similar tendency can be found when looking at the preferences on hotel/resort level. The top concerns are rather broadly shared across the different nationalities

Looking at our sample group, it seems that cultural factors don’t play that much of a role, when it comes to customer preferences during their vacation.

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