HRRAC: No room shortage in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — “There is no room shortage in Cebu,” this is the statement made by the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association in Cebu (HRRAC), as the province positions to attract more international events and conferences.

HRRAC president Carlo Suarez assured that Cebu have rooms to accommodate the increasing MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibits) events.

In fact, together with other private sector tourism players, Cebu is intensifying its promotions to attract more MICE events from Southeast Asian market.

“We are trying to coordinate with Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and others. If we could get this market alone, it would be very good for Cebu,” Suarez said.

He said there are a number of new hotels that are opening this year and would add to the existing room portfolio if Cebu.

“Accommodation is not a problem. Cebu has a lot of rooms to cater,” he added.

Suarez cited last year’s Boracay closure, which Cebu served as the primary alternative of tourists.

Earlier, tourism advocate and Network of Independent Tarvel Agencies (NITAS) chairman emeritus Robert Lim Joseph said, with more or less 16 thousand hotel rooms available in Metro Cebu, it could hardly accommodate the influx of MICE events, now that the government is putting its attention in capitalizing on MICE.

However, while this poses a hiccup in tourism growth, this is also an opportunity for capitalists to invest in building more accommodation facilities specifically in the metropolitan districts.

Province-wide, Cebu logs 24,000 rooms available for transients, this already include the small pension houses. (FREEMAN)