Davao eyes Cebu alliance in promoting Phl tourism

DAVAO CITY, Philippines  â€” Taking inspiration from the success of Cebu in attracting tourists, Davao is now initiating a partnership with Cebu stakeholders for an effective promotion scheme to complement each other’s strength in tourism.

In an interview with Department of Tourism (DOT-11) regional director Art  P. Boncato Jr., he said for a while Cebu and Davao had never been working together to advance tourism,  saying "we have been putting Cebu aside as a strategic  partner to help Davao in terms of drawing more tourists. Maybe we were too focused on our own markets without realizing we could be good complementary partners."

Initially, Boncato had informal talks with different tourism organizations in Cebu like the Cebu Association of Tour Operators (CATO), Hotel, Resorts, and Restaurant s Association in Cebu (HRRAC), as well as DOT-7 to include Davao as part of the alternative destinations to be offered by Cebu travel agents specifically for eco-tourism.

Boncato said Cebu as an international gateway for Southern Philippines is considered as an important partner for Davao.

Bringing its branding tagline as "From Islands to Highlands", Davao's tourism growth is in the five percent average level in the last couple of years, dominated by domestic visitors registering 1.2 million arrivals as of end 2012.

While Davao is known as the "success story of Mindanao",  with strong implementation of peace and order discipline within the City, it still has to work harder in promoting its unique eco-tourism attraction, primarily to the foreign travellers.

Although,  Boncato downplayed the peace and order issue as one of the constraints of Davao in drawing tourists, especially foreigners, he said the  primary reason for weak foreign arrivals to the City or the entire Davao del Sur region, is the lack of direct international flights.

Due to Davao's strengthening economic growth, the City has been attracting investors in recent years such as the entry of big developers in retail, commercial and residential developments, like the SM Group, Ayala Group, among others.

Recently, SM Group opened the P700 million posh business and leisure hotel facility called Park Inn by Radisson Davao, a 204 room hotel facility which is expected to support the forecasted fast economic growth of Davao in the next few years.

Davao, known also as the largest City in the country in terms of land area, is the trading center and major City in Mindanao. Its economy is boosted by its abundant agriculture production, seafood and fruit exports, among others.

This time, Boncato said Davao hopes to make tourism as one of its revenue contributors, aside from the traditional industries. /JOB (FREEMAN)