Full disclosure Festival-dependent tourism

CEBU, Philippines — If there is a place in the country that ends its Christmas celebration right after December 25 it should be Cebu City. Why? If you are keen enough, you can certainly observe that department stores, hotels and restaurants, among others, are changing their motifs and decorations into that of the Sinulog right away. Not only that, as early as October, the Sinulog beat can already be heard as the participating contingents of the Sinulog Mardi Gras practice their moves and perfect their rituals, as if, the Sinulog comes before Christmas.

As the second weekend of the year comes, the show begins. So that, this weekend, the deafening drums will start to roll and the energizing beats will begin to tickle everyone’s foot and buttock again. With its dominance, every tourist (foreign or domestic) may think that that is it, the Sinulog Mardi Gras. Yet, it is just the Sinulog sa Kabataan. Truly, a lot more can be expected as the celebrations and competitions heighten towards next Sunday.

Then, as usual, the day after, the deafening drums are muted, the energizing beats dissipated and the equally revitalized crowd degenerated. That unequivocally means that the tourist-drawing week-long Sinulog 2024 revelries shall be finally over. Such is the reality of the Sinulog festivities as far as our tourism initiatives are concern. It gives us a week bounty.  Considering that a year has fifty-two weeks, it simply means, a week of abundance and fifty-one weeks of scarcity.

Fortunately for us, a good concept was then introduced, the Suroy Suroy Sugbo (SSS), an initiative of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI). As conceptualized, it was originally envisioned to invigorate tourism by developing places of interest and constructing infrastructure. And as the Province of Cebu got the handle of the SSS, the governors (Govs. Garcia and Davide) pursued it and brought it to where it is today.

Also, nationally, with Cebuana Sec. Christina Garcia Frasco at the helm of the Department of Tourism (DoT), the country surpassed its year-end target with 5.45 million arrivals of foreign visitors in the country. By the looks of it, we might entertain that feeling of contentment. However, if we go deeper and browse through significant facts, we will surely find anything but satisfaction.

Yes, it is true that we are recovering and we should congratulate everyone who made this happen. However, if we take a closer look at how our ASEAN neighbors performed, we will surely realize how far behind we really are from them. For one, according to Travel Daily News, “Malaysia led the region with the highest number of foreign tourist arrivals recording approximately 26 million visitors from January to November in 2023.”  Following closely is “Thailand with 24.6 million tourists during the same period.”

Vietnam, a war-torn country several decades ago, is third “with 12.6 million foreign tourists.” That’s more than double of what we have. South Korea, mainland China, Taiwan, the U.S., and Japan were the country’s main sources of tourists.  In terms of recovery rates, “Cambodia demonstrated an outstanding recovery, nearly achieving full recovery with a rate of 92.48%.” Notably too, “Vietnam and Indonesia also showed strong recovery rates at 82.25% and 74.11%, respectively.”

It is also noteworthy that Travel Daily News singled out factors that made these countries tourism relevant. In Vietnam, for instance, “tourists can enjoy cultural activities like exploring the old quarter of Hanoi, meeting local craftsmen, and touring historic sites like the Cu Chi tunnels.” Moreover, “Thailand provides diverse itineraries, combining sights like Bangkok’s vibrant city life, Chiang Mai’s mountains, and Kanchanaburi’s lush nature.” On the other hand, “Cambodia offers unique experiences from exploring the Angkor temples to visiting its southern beaches.” Remarkably, “these destinations are not just about sightseeing; they offer immersive cultural experiences, including the exploration of iconic movie sets and engagement in local arts and handicrafts.”

In comparison, though we have whale watching, etc. in Cebu, the country, as a whole, rely heavily on annual festivals to draw foreign tourists. Are these enough? Not at all. We need to develop places of interests. The tour and travel operators, businessmen as they are, will certainly package tours if the products are saleable and reachable. Thus, clearly, through initiatives like these, tourism in the country will be a daily affair not a yearly or a quarterly event.

In doing so, however, we must not forget that like any business, the key to any success is continued patronage. This can only be achieved once we can develop a strong customer base that will not only give us repeat businesses but shall tell the world of our unparalleled capabilities. — (FREEMAN)