Boracay Island’s six-month closure has resulted in at least 1,400 bookings for the months of April to June having been diverted to neighboring holiday destinations Cebu and Bohol. This was according to the President of the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS) Alice Queblatin.
But while the influx of bookings serve as a welcome development for other destinations in the Visayas region, it has also posed quite a challenge for hotels’ and resorts’ management.
“Almost all want to stay at the beach and not at city hotels. And they want the same resort. This creates a problem with room occupancy and the resorts are trying their best to straighten out the details and requests of the visitors,” Queblatin said.
In a press conference organized by the Department of Tourism (DOT) Region VII, the CATOS president added that the tour operators are upgrading the activities of Cebu and Bohol, so the new wave of visitors may also savor more of the local experiences and entice them to extend their stays.
Local tours such as the “Suroy-Suroy Sugbo” (Travel, travel Cebu) in the Camotes Islands, whale watching in Oslob, faith tourism, and other countryside attractions have lured in consistently large numbers of visitors through the years.
“Cebu is much more than a two-night, three-day destination. We have a lot to offer. Cebu also serves as the jump-off point to other cities and provinces. This is especially vital to Europeans since they usually go on two-week vacations while hopping from one place to another.”
Environmental initiatives
During the briefing, Queblatin also commended the environmental initiatives taken by Cebu tourist hotspots town officials of to ensure that they do not suffer the same faith as Boracay. Among these places are Sumilon Island in Oslob, Mactan, and Bantayan Island, where cleanup drives and other conservation thrusts have become a major part of operations.
In Lapu-Lapu City, for instance, Mayor Paz Radaza recently embarked on a massive drive to clear the Mactan coastline of illegal settlers in order to prevent further damage to the marine environment, and to pave the way for the new properties to complete their construction requirements in the next several months.
The upcoming properties include Megaworld’s Mactan Newtown Properties, Sheraton, Dusit Thani, Seascape by Robinson’s Land, and Seagrove by Taft Properties and Ayala Land Inc., all situated along the Punta Engano area.
Tourism stronghold
Over the years, Cebu has strengthened its hold as a tourism magnet, providing other reasons for people to come. It has become an English as a Second Language (ESL) destination, a MICE hub, and investment haven, adding to its wealth of resorts, adventure tourism and natural attractions. DOT VII Regional Director Shalamar Hofer Tamano pointed out that Cebu had the lion’s share of Central Visayas foreign tourist arrivals in 2017, garnering 78 percent of the 2.9 million arrivals. Bohol was a distant second, having 15 percent (444,207) arrivals last year.
Korea, China, and Japan comprised the three largest foreign markets in the region, respectively. Koreans accounted for 36 percent (895,776) of the total arrivals, followed by the Chinese (429,306), which represented the biggest increase (75 percent) among all markets. It was the first time Chinese arrivals outnumbered that of Japan’s.
By RICHARD RAMOS
