Tragedies in Japan impact Cebu tourism

CEBU, Philippines - Just as Cebu started to feel an improvement in the arrivals of Japanese tourists in the province, the hint of hope faded away with the disaster that hit Japan recently.

Tourism analyst and former Department of Tourism (DOT) undersecretary Phineas Alburo said that the crisis in Japan can affect the recovery track of the Japanese tourists to the Philippines, especially Cebu.

He said the travel culture of the Japanese is very conservative. “They [Japanese] will stay home until everything is normalized. That’s how they are.”

Alburo added that although traveling has become a ‘way of life” for the Japanese, the recent calamity has shocked them, and that until they have fully recovered, they will likely postpone any short or medium term vacation plan.

On the other hand, high-end Plantation Bay Resort and Spa expressed apprehension of the decline of Japanese guests to the resort business.

 In fact, immediately after the tsumani disaster, Plantation bay reported about 270 room-nights cancellations, coming from their Japanese guests.

Over the past few months, Plantation Bay recorded a highest turnaround of Japanese guests, making them the second largest foreign client group, next to Koreans.

“We are expecting foreign tourists to minimize their travel vacations to other countries,” said Plantation Bay Resort and Spa general manager Belarmino adding that industry stakeholders are not only anticipating a plunge of tourists arrivals from Japan, but also from other countries, while Earthquakes and other natural calamities are also happening in other countries.

In the lighter side, Belarmino is confident that amid the decline of foreign guest arrivals to the resort, specifically from Japan, would be offset by the active interest from the domestic market, considering that summer is starting.

“We can only hope for the best that things will get better very soon,” Belarmino said explaining that as of now the industry is counting on to the domestic market.

For Plantation Bay, he said the domestic market's continued interest is also complemented by the resort’s more aggressive marketing campaign to attract domestic clients.

During the first two months of this year, Plantation Bay posted an average occupancy rate of 75 percent.

In the last couple of years, Cebu had been attracting Japanese tourists, especially a huge percent jump growth of traveling Japanese women, to enjoy not only Cebu’s famous “Sun and Sand” attraction, but also the good health and wellness services here.

Earlier, the Department of Tourism (DOT) emphasized the growing number of Japanese women availing of Spa treatments, vanity services, such as manicure, pedicure, among others.