Survey: Tourists Want To Return To Eastern Visayas, But

[Mr Lee]

They have legitimate complaints. I guess the same can be said of most places in the Philippines. A copy of the survey result obtained by the Leyte Samar Daily Express revealed, however, that 77 percent and 69 percent of tourists gave a poor rating on conditions of public facilities in the region’s ports and in tourism attractions, respectively. In hotels, low Internet connectivity is the most common complaint of tourists with only 23 percent of them are satisfied, while 69 percent of guests said they are not happy with the management in accommodations. Nearly half of visitors or 44 percent are disappointed of selling behaviors of drivers as well as pollution and noise control in public transport waiting area. Some 70 percent of the tourists said unique local products are not available in shops. link

[Jim Sibbick]

They have legitimate complaints. I guess the same can be said of most places in the Philippines. A copy of the survey result obtained by the Leyte Samar Daily Express revealed, however, that 77 percent and 69 percent of tourists gave a poor rating on conditions of public facilities in the region’s ports and in tourism attractions, respectively. In hotels, low Internet connectivity is the most common complaint of tourists with only 23 percent of them are satisfied, while 69 percent of guests said they are not happy with the management in accommodations. Nearly half of visitors or 44 percent are disappointed of selling behaviors of drivers as well as pollution and noise control in public transport waiting area. Some 70 percent of the tourists said unique local products are not available in shops. link

Of course they want to come back to Leyte becuase it is a beautiful place. However, it is not geared for tourism at all. Which is absolutely great in my opinion. Foreigners want to see place of natural beauty but expect room service within viewing distance.. If you want to see naturally beautiful places, you should just see them as they are, without the facilities. Regards: Jim

[ekimswish]

I took a 4 hour van from Tacloban to go surfing in Borongan, Samar a few years ago. It was at least two hours of slow crawling over massive craters in the road. The Leyte roads are good, but in Samar, it was another level of poor. I rode the airplane in with a lady once this year who said she was there to supervise the renovation of that highway with US government funds. This last trip, I rode the plane out with a Swedish guy who said the road is now okay. Hey, I think Leyte is beautiful; but Samar has some otherworldly mystic beauty (to go along with the poverty). I can't wait to go back to Samar.

[Old55]

I agree with you guys 100%! I love Southern Leyte!!!! If it were only my wife and I we would have a home and live there half the year. Back in the late 90’s there were few hotels or resorts outside of the few larger cities. There are more now but still all fairly basic. Someday I hope we can visit Samar, just too hard to leave Sogod bay area. The best!

[FlyAway]

May 2010 I visited my brother-in-law in Samar. We flew into Catarman on a turbo prop plane. Luggage was offloaded into one big pile in the center of the airport terminal. We spent the night at the Bahay Pinoy Pension House & Restaurant. Most westerners would rate the place less than a motel 6. To me it was fine, no complaints. We were going to a place called Pinipisakan Fall's. Turns out the road was washed away, so we ended up traveling up river by boat. Really a fun experience to me. Most of the roads we traveled were in good shape in Samar. Driving through Leyte we stopped at a few historical places. Everyone knows of Leyte Park where MacAurthur landed but there are other sites. Hill 120 is where the American Forces of Liberation raised the first American flag on Philippine soil 20 October 1944. I can say the restroom facilities needed help. Non functional is more like it. Some people have tried to keep the site up. Over all the drive through Leyte and Samar was great to me. I could see where others would be upset about not having western type comforts.