Cebu needs more hotels to house its growing number of visitors

Even with the opening of more hotels in Cebu, the Department of Tourism (DOT-7) is still calling for more investors to put up accommodation facilities in the province.

"The new hotels can't catch up with the demand. Tourist arrivals in Cebu are soaring, while more and more conventions will be held here now and then," said DOT-7 regional director Patria Aurora Roa.

The opening soon of Cebu Marco Polo Plaza with over 300 rooms, and the 235 rooms of Cebu Park Lane International Hotel may help for the long standing problem of acute room shortage, but Roa said the supply still can't catch up with the ballooning demand.

Prior to the opening of five-star Cebu Hilton Resort and Spa with 246 available room, Cebu had a little over 6,000 rooms, including the services offered by pension houses and legitimate lodging facilities.

"I hope investors will fast tract their plans to establish more hotels, or resorts in Cebu," Roa said.

Because of the effect of the supply and demand law, room accommodation in Cebu is higher than its international competitors like Thailand, Vietnam, and other destinations in Asia.

Roa said the tourism prospect in the entire Central Visayas region is upbeat, but Cebu should immediately recover from accommodation problem in order to take off.

Roa said that the decision of Orient Air to offer flights with Cebu as a hub to provincial destinations like Tacloban, Siquijor, Tagbilaran, among others will also help pull up arrivals and encourage traveling plans for the domestic market.

Cebu, which is not only the hub or gateway to Visayas and Mindanao but also as international gateway, should be providing more rooms.

The room shortage in Cebu has been the province's problem for years now. Slowly more and more capitalists have responded to this problem. Aside from the newly opened and soon to open hotels, there are also more hotel projects that are scheduled for opening in the next few years.

J. King and Sons Co. Inc. (JKSCI) recently announced the opening of Crown Regency Hotel in Osmeña Boulevard next month which will initially offer 100 hotel rooms.

National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS) chairman Robert Lim Joseph said Cebu is capable of attracting at least 3 million tourists a year, higher than the over-all projected arrival in the country. What it needs is the facilities to accommodate its visitors.