Private sector calls for review of Cebu's tourism advantage

CEBU, Philippines - The private sector is calling on key government officials both in the national and local levels, to seriously look into the tourism-related offering of the province before Cebu totally loses its tourism-advantage against other destinations.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Samuel Chioson said that efforts must be poured into developing more infrastructure support as well as to develop the attraction sites to sustain the tourism-driven economy of the province.

“We have to expound our tourism attraction. We don’t just rely on the beach attraction. We should provide a clearer roadmap that emphasizes Cebu’s rich heritage and culture,” said Chioson.

The private sector including the Cebu Business Club (CBC) has been calling the attention of concerned government agencies especially in the local government units (LGUs) to create a sustainable long-term tourism plan for the province, otherwise Cebu’s tourism advantage will be overtaken by other provinces.

According to Chioson if Cebu will only bank on the beach attraction and its world-class resort accommodations, it cannot sustain its position as one of the top tourism hotspots in the country today.

Pro-active action from the government should be started, especially for the new set of leaders, in sustaining the tourism niche of Cebu.

“For one, we have to immediately implement the improvement of our international airport terminal,” Chioson said adding that with increasing number of arrivals and direct-flights, the airport should be expanded more.

Also, Cebu should start an active move to connect with other provinces, complementing other destinations, to continuously make Cebu as the gateway to other destinations in Southern Philippines.

With the direct flights now increasing from Bohol to Manila, Cebu is slowly losing some potential market, Chioson said.

Likewise, CBC president Dondi Joseph earlier said that there is an immediate need for Cebu to fix its tourism advantage. Some infrastructure and support facilities are not enough, considering the robust increase of arrivals every month.

“Our roads are too narrow. We don’t have tourists’ friendly cities,” Joseph said in an interview.

According to Joseph, Cebu has it all to grow even more, but it needs good leaders that would prioritize economic development, rather than focusing on settling “personal” or political squabbles.

Developing a serious and effective and improved tourism roadmap is one of the serious problems faced by Cebu right now. The new set of leaders should prioritize the sustainability of tourism here, said the business leaders.

Cebu has been emerging as number one destination in the Philippines. However, its attractiveness has already been nearly taken over by other provinces like Bohol, which used to be the partner of Cebu in attracting local and foreign tourists, Joseph said.

Recent report from the Department of Tourism (DOT) revealed that Cebu emerged only as number two preferred destination in the Philippines, for the first three months of 2010, next to Metro Manila.

This recent report alarmed tourism stakeholders here, especially the private sector players, saying the report served as a reminder for all Cebuanos, especially tourism stakeholders and government executives to strive harder to sustain the number one spot.