Bright Prospect for Cebu Tourism Seen

Industry players see a good outlook for Cebu tourism this year, as the province has once again led the region in terms of tourism arrivals in 2017.

In a press conference last April 20, Department of Tourism 7 Director Shalimar Hofer Tamano announced that Cebu is still the top draw for tourists in Central Visayas, accounting for 4,877,047 foreign and domestic arrivals out of the 6,974,647, or at least 70 percent of all visitors.

Of the 4.88 million, foreigners numbered 2,264,042, or 46.42 percent. Bohol followed Cebu, with 444, 207 foreign visitors; Negros Oriental was third, with 153,381; while Siquijor had 44,396.

Cebu’s foreign visitors account for 34 percent of the 6,620,908 foreign tourists who came to see the country in 2017. Koreans were the most numerous, accounting for 36.28 percent of the 2.26 million; followed by the Chinese (17.39 percent); Japanese (16.55 percent); Americans (8.9 percent); and the Taiwanese (2.91 percent).

With a 75.28 percent increase from 244,925 in 2017 to 429,306 in 2017, the number of Chinese visitors, though, rose most significantly among all tourists, followed by the Taiwanese at 69.75 percent (42,261 to 71,739).

In terms of domestic arrivals, Cebu saw 2,613,005 visitors; Bohol, 686,858; Negros Oriental, 716,393; and Siquijor, 52,392.

Director Tamano cited, among other reasons, the opening of new international flights to Cebu and the country’s good relations with China as among the factors in the increase of foreign arrivals.

With the opening of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 in June this year, the DOT 7 expects more tourists to come to Cebu and the rest of the region.

Director Tamano said they are also marketing Cebu’s cultural and sacred sites as well as attending to other needs of the tourism sector.

“Our focus this year are three things—security, safety, and cleanliness—so tourists could really enjoy…. A happy tourist is one who arrives home safe and sound,” he said.

Alice Queblatin, Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS) president, said her group has been “very bullish of the growth rate” of tourism in Cebu. She reported that the number of tour bookings they handled is increasing that they are working more on making visitors stay longer in Cebu.

The DOT 7 said domestic tourists stay only for 1.5 days, while foreign guests stay just for two days in Cebu before going to other destinations in the country.

“We are in a very good place right now…. We’re working on how to make them stay longer in Cebu,” she said, adding that “its beach image is still the number one pull for Cebu.”

But, Queblatin said that there is also the need to strengthen other niches. She particularly mentioned faith-based tourism that offers walking tours and pilgrimages, ecotourism, and heritage tourism, where guests get to visit the countryside and engage in cultural tours, including trying their hands on local practices and enjoying local food.

On Cebu being an alternative destination with the closure of Boracay for rehabilitation, she said that CATOS, so far, attended to 1,400 new bookings of guests who originally had wanted to go to Boracay from April to July this year, and that they were working on the bookings of 800 more.

She said Cebu is actually a better destination, saying what Boracay has the province also has.

“What they can do in Boracay we can do it here. We can do it even better, and even more,” she said.

Carlo Suarez, president of the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu, assured Cebu has enough rooms for more visitors even if right now they have an average occupancy rate of 75 percent.

“Cebu is very happy to have high occupancy and we’re here to welcome everybody…. We have enough rooms. We have plenty of rooms. We look forward to having tourists come to Cebu,” he said.

Suarez said that with more hotels opening up in Cebu City and in Mactan Island, they expect in the next two years an additional 3,000 to 5,000 rooms to the existing 34,979 rooms in the region.

He said that in a study they made, foreigners identified the people and the place as reasons why they came to Cebu.

“We are very warm, very hospitable…. We have lots of places to offer in Cebu,” he further said.

Director Tamano assured that the DOT 7 is closely working with the appropriate agencies, like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in ensuring that Cebu will not share the same fate with Boracay, which President Rodrigo Duterte called a “cesspool” and ordered closed for six months for rehabilitation.

“We are closely coordinating…, talking, and having dialogues. They are doing what they can (and) that includes waste management and (compliance with) easement (requirement),” he said.

Suarez said all HRRAC members have been issued with environmental compliance certificates and the organization is closely working with the local government units when it comes to the permits.

www.cebu.gov.ph