Central Visayas eyes more visitors this year

Cebuanos are encouraged to prepare to work together to welcome more tourists this year (like this Koreans enjoying a Sinulog activity in Cebu City last January), especially with number of visitors for Central Visayas in 2016 showed a 29.17-percent increase when compared to visitors in 2015.
CDN FILE PHOTO

5.95M TOURISTS IN 2016

Greater collaborative work is expected from tourism stakeholders in Central Visayas as the region sets its eyes on welcoming more visitors this year.

Latest data from the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7) obtained by Cebu Daily News showed that the region welcomed 5.95 million tourists from January to December 2016, up by 29.17 percent from 4.6 million during the same period in 2015.

The DOT-7 also exceeded its target of 5.8 million in 2016.

“Everything has increased. Negros is picking up because of the Chinese market. Bohol just launched its maiden Tagbilaran to Incheon flight (last) June 23,” said DOT-7 officer-in-charge Judy Gabato.

Ideal target, DOT data

Gabato said Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo initially set the region’s target to 7 million for 2017, but may set it to an “ideal” 4.5 million due to issues on safety that the country has been facing in the last two months.

“We’re just waiting for the final advice,” she added.

Of the 5.9 million tourists in 2016, 2.3 million were foreign travelers while 3.62 million were domestic visitors.

Data were gathered from accommodation establishments across the region.

The region’s top markets based on visitor volume are Korea (842,985), Japan (369,860), China (244,925), USA (201,222), and Australia (63,627).

An increase in the number of Chinese visitors by 90 percent from 128,358 in 2015 was noteworthy as it comes at the heels of President Duterte’s visit to China late last year, bringing with him not only investment pledges but also potential tourists.

Cebu’s visitors

Cebu continues to lead tourism activities in the region, welcoming 4.17 million visitors last year, up by 25.63 percent from 3.32 million in 2015.

Of this figure, 2.28 million were domestic visitors while 1.88 million were foreign tourists.

The province has similar top markets except that the US stands at third while China was at fourth place, bringing 108,769 visitors in 2016, up by 83.67 percent from 59,220 in 2015.

Bohol welcomed more than one million tourists in 2016, Negros Oriental trailed behind at 696,403, while 85,876 visitors came to Siquijor.

With robust tourist arrivals last year, both the government and private sector should get back to the working table, a tourism stakeholder said.

“It’s about time for us to stop focusing on issues and start working double time to catch up for the lost time,” said Edilberto Mendoza Jr., past president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operation Specialists (Catos).

Roles to play

He said that while the government works on tourism infrastructure projects, private stakeholders should work double time in promoting the region.

Cebu, being the driver of growth in Central Visayas, should be much more aggressive in terms of promotions, Mendoza added.

“This is a sign of good things to come for the Central Visayas region. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the numbers to continue to grow and pray that finally our challenges, especially on safety and security will come to a stop,” he said.

The tourism leader was referring to the firefight involving government troops and Abu Sayyaf Group members in Bohol, the Marawi City invasion, and the Resorts World Manila incident, all of which happened in less than three months.

Good indicator

Edwin Ortiz of the DOT’s Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) said the 29-percent growth is a good indicator that Central Visayas continues to strongly attract foreign and domestic tourists.

“The huge growth is attributed to the additional tourist attractions, activities, and tourism facilities in the region led by Cebu,” he said.

Bleisure

He pointed out that added to this are tourists who come here for “bleisure” or business and leisure trips because of the region’s booming economy.

Ortiz said that while the DOT does not yet have the official figures, unofficial data show that tourist arrivals from January to April this year still remained strong despite the firefight incident in Bohol.

Challenges

“With the ongoing Marawi crisis, though, plus the unfortunate Resorts World Manila tragedy that happened right after the incident in Bohol with the Abu Sayyaf Group, challenges are foreseen in the next couple of months,” Ortiz said.

He said this now calls for all Visayans from the local government units, business sector, and even private individuals to help.

“While the LGUs can launch programs emphasizing security and safety in tourism destinations, private individuals, on the other hand, can spread through social media that Cebu, Bohol and the rest of Central Visayas is a still a safe and fun place to visit,” he said.

Issues to address

For Cenelyn Manguilimotan, past president of the Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRRAC), Cebu has to address a lot of other issues in order to stay competitive.

Among those that should be in the punch list are the metropolitan area’s traffic situation, drainage problems, and garbage issues, which all have been getting worse over time.

“Since we’ve been raising these concerns for so long, I personally just hope this will be addressed soon so that we can sustain or even improve our viability,” she said.

Manguilimotan said industry players felt the growth in tourist arrivals as hotels in Cebu have been posting good occupancy for the past two years now and that they hope to sustain it.

“We had some setbacks this year, but still we are posting better figures compared to last year,” she added.