Cancelled bookings in Cebu resorts

CEBU, Philippines - Some resorts in Cebu especially in Mactan have already received some booking cancellations from foreign guests, but industry organization considered this as minor.

"There are already minor cancellations of booking maybe five to 10 percent," said Hotels, Resorts and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) president Carlo Suarez yesterday.

According to Suarez most of the guests who made the cancellations are Free Individual Travelers (FITs), those who do not make use of travel agencies.

In general, Suarez said resorts are still enjoying high occupancy rate this summer season, despite the travel warnings issued by major market countries.

In fact, bulk bookings in the next two to three months are still intact, what is affected largely are those FITs, Suarez reiterated.

The tourism stakeholders, specifically the resorts and hotels in Cebu and Bohol, are apprehensive of the lingering effects of travel advisories against the twin destination, the tension heightened when the South Korean  government issued travel ban last week.

Korea is the number one foreign market for Central Visayas, followed by Japan, closely followed by Americans.

As of November 2016, arrivals from Korea grew by 11.84 percent from 678,149 arrivals in November 2015 to 758,451 last year.

Of the total Korean guests, some 39,229 Koreans visited Bohol from January to November 2016, record from the Department of Tourism (DOT-7) revealed.

Meanwhile, as the situation is still highly volatile, Suarez said stakeholders are constantly monitoring the movement of business in a daily basis.

Earlier, travel operator Edilberto Mendoza Jr. said that travel agencies are looking at other options to divert Korean tourists from going to Bohol until the tension subsides.

The South Korean foreign ministry said that a special travel advisory is "tantamount to the travel-alert level of 'red alert',” which means travel should be restricted.

The South Korean Advisory followed after some major markets like United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand released similar warnings on the height of terrorism threat in Bohol, including Cebu. (FREEMAN)