News that Cebu and Bohol together with the rest of the Visayas landed third place in a ranking of Asia’s best island destinations is a great morale booster to the peoples of the islands recently hit by earthquakes.
SugBohol and neighboring islands ranked behind Indonesia’s Bali and Thailand’s Koh Samui in a listing by readers of the highly regarded international magazine Condé Nast Traveler.
The Visayan islands got their approbation from visitors for having friendly inhabitants, great scenery and beautiful beaches.
That should raise the spirits of those who are still coping with the series of aftershocks in the wake of the original October tremor.
It should help Bol-anons, Cebuanos and other Visayans count what they still have, what they can still build on even as they literally pick up the pieces.
Aid for recovery is pouring in from countries like the members of the European Union and Australia and this is evidence that visitors and potential travelers are just as interested as locals in putting things back together here so that they can come over.
In a sense, damage to the tourism industry should be the least of our worries. The earthquakes have not taken away all of our wonderful shores and enticing terrain.
A shaky earth will definitely not douse our welcoming demeanor and culture of hospitality, even if Cebu and Bohol were shoo-ins in the Condé Nast Traveler list before the temblors occurred.
While Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto plays the “earthquake tourism” card and long after he sees the need for this method of marketing his province, Visayans must work hand in hand to improve on areas where they received relatively low scores among tourists.
These are in atmosphere, restaurants, lodging and activities.
Solving traffic and urban congestion, air pollution and waste mismanagement and poor street lighting especially in our urban centers could earn us more points.
So would raising the standards for handling and presentation of food and creating a homely atmosphere in our carenderias, barbecue joints and restaurants.
Hoteliers and restaurateurs should look into highlighting more indigenous food in their menus considering that tourists, especially the more adventurous ones, do not necessarily visit to taste the food they can always eat in Europe or China or Korea.
Centers of culture like museums across the city, not only Casa Gorordo, must prepare more events for every month on the calendar.
The renowned fisher-folk tour guides of Aloguinsan town must be open to sharing their experience and expertise with other communities, while the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo organizers must diversify their products.
These things and more can help address our visitors’ need for more activities.
With so much more to work on, Visayans’ efforts to rebuild in a fashion more resilient to tremors must not flag.