Camotes tourism effortsfutile without air access

CEBU, Philippines - Tourism efforts in Camotes Island will remain futile unless commercial air transport facility will be established in the island, otherwise its potential to rake in good tourism-related revenues will not be maximized.

This according to Department of Tourism (DOT) secretary Joseph Ace Durano adding that local government units (LGUs) in Camotes, as well as the Cebu Provincial Government should start implementing sound tourism projects for the island, or else, the island is bound to multi-million-peso tourism related revenues over time.

“To jumpstart Camotes as one of the preferred tourism destinations in Cebu, it has to have air access, as unpredictable weather condition discourages tourists to visit the island,” said Durano.

Aside from air transportation need, Durano said Camotes also has to set up enough accommodation facilities as more and more tourists are now eyeing the Philippines as one of the preferred destination choices in the world.

Although, Camotes Island is now gaining popularity as “day-trip” destination, it has a lot of work to do to edge up a notch higher and attract week-long staying tourists, by providing good accommodation facilities.

If private investors are still hesitant to invest in tourism-related projects on the island, Durano suggested that LGUs could start their own project, in order to stimulate interest from both local and foreign travellers.

Today, he said Camotes needs at least 500 more rooms to attract adventure tourists, as existing accommodation facilities there are still not enough to host increasing number of visitors.

On the other hand, Cebu fifth district Representative Ramon “Red” H. Durano VI earlier announced that at least P9 million budget is allocated this year for infrastructure projects in Camotes Island.

Representative Durano, the elder brother of the tourism chief, said that the bulk of the budget will be used in fixing the infrastructure in the four towns of the Island, such as road network (concreting), sea and air ports, and power.

Also, the Congressman said that he will also push the LGUs in the four towns of the island to strengthen their tourism development plans, in order to maximize the beauty of Camotes, which is now being eyed as an “emerging” tourism jewel of Cebu.

The DoT-7 recently named Camotes as the “new iconic product” in the region, because of its huge potential to attract foreign and local tourists, thereby providing wide options of destinations for visitors.

While the RoRo (Roll-on,Roll-off) facility that offers convenient transportation access from mainland Cebu to Camotes helped fuel the increasing tourist arrivals to the island, Red Durano echoed the clamor for Camotes to have an air transpo facility.

Currently, there is an existing air-strip on the island that can accommodate small airlines, Red Durano said strong demand still has to be established after the airline companies decide to open a commercial flight to Camotes.

The small airport in Camotes is under the management of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA), the Congressman believes the idle air-strip is still at its “healthy state.”