Tourism players lament on unsolved sector woes

CEBU, Philippines - Apart from the opportunities present for Cebu as a tourism hub, industry players still lamented on their sentiments which are remained unsolved and have yet to be addressed to sustain and enhance the tourism boom in the province.

Milagros Espina, chairperson for tourism committee of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), said that Cebu has to identify its own cutting edge in the global market to stay ahead of the game.

She added that the province has to resolve issues on tourism services, infrastructure and human resources to boost the placement of Cebu as a tourism hub.

“These issues are still there until now. How long will there be an implementation,” she said.

On June 2013, the chamber will once again celebrate Cebu Business Month and this year, CCCI intends to stress on powering up Cebu as the preferred tourism destination in the global market.

With the stiff competition globally, she further noted that other areas to be taken into consideration for the sector include medical, real estate, architecture and countryside tourism.

Also, Espina cited that the academe has to reorganize the curriculum to promote the tourism culture of Cebu.

She said that there should be an industry-academe linkage for hotel and restaurant management students in Region VII since they do not get enough support with the lack of hotels to accommodate their application for internship.

“Practicumers in Central Visayas come to Cebu for internship. But with the increasing number of these students, hotels need to come up with a better program for them. We want both the industry and academe to be involved,” she said.

She pointed out that Cebu has to be marketed as an investment, education and tourism hub all at the same time.

“There are already many emerging destinations in Asia Pacific that could be a threat to Cebu. What we have to focus on is the branding, marketing and improvement of tourism-related procedures to prove that it’s really more fun in Cebu,” she stated during the 888 News Forum held at Marco Polo Plaza Cebu.

Meanwhile, tourism advocate Robert Lim Joseph who is the chairman emeritus of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS) pointed out the improvement of services in Cebu particularly the passport application process.

He pointed out the hassle applicants have to undertake lining up at the consular offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs to process their passport applications.

“Cebu has a lot of potential. There are so many opportunities in tourism and if we have problems, we should come up with solutions,” he said.

He added that the government needed not to limit the right of travel agencies to offer passport services to clients that could actually provide convenience for the latter.

Last June 2012, DFA issued a circular that appropriated only five percent of the daily demand for passport service of each consular office to travel agencies and restricted travel agency representatives from entering consular premises to assist their clients.

As a result, about 62 accredited travel agencies in Cebu have to fight over the 25 passport applications the DFA would process daily. (FREEMAN)