Tourism players urged: Prepare for more visitors from China

An increasing number of tourists arriving at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, especially from China, will be a constant scene in the airport with the announcement of the opening of two more direct flights from Cebu to China.
CDN FILE PHOTO

NEW CEBU-CHINA AIR LINKS ANNOUNCED

As more Chinese tourists are expected to visit Central Visayas with the opening of new air connections between Cebu and China, local tourism stakeholders are encouraged to prepare the sector for these visitors.

Alice Queblatin, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operation Specialists (Catos) said the new routes (to China) are going to open up more tourism and trade for Cebu and its environs.

“We know that China is the next big market for Asean destinations, and we should be in the loop. All countries are gearing up for this market,” Queblatin said.

The Catos president was referring to the announcement of GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), the private operator of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), on Tuesday that it is opening two new routes to China this month.

New Sino airlines

GMCAC, in a statement, said it will also introduce two new Chinese airlines to Cebu, bringing its total number of international destinations to 18 from just seven in 2014.

This October, China Eastern and Juneyao Airlines will both commence flights to Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

China Eastern will have seven flights weekly in its first run from October 18 to October 28, 2017; it will resume operations on January 18, 2018. Juneyao Airlines will commence thrice weekly flights on October 30, 2017.

Meanwhile, Okay Airways will launch thrice weekly flights to China’s historic city Xi’an on October 30, 2017.

Juneyao Airlines and Okay Airways are MCIA’s newest Chinese airline partners.

New routes to Beijing and Bangkok are expected to be opened in the next two months.

Local activities

The new flight connections, the ongoing airport expansion set to be completed next year, and new hotels and resorts coming in, Queblatin said there will be a need for warm bodies to utilize them.

Queblatin also cited the need to highlight local activities that Chinese tourists look for such as great food trips, soft adventure like whale shark watching and island hopping, shopping and heritage tourism.

“We should work on getting more Mandarin-speaking guides. Language courses are being planned by DOT (Department of Tourism),” she said.

New links welcomed

Director Joshur Judd Lanete II of the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7) also welcomed the addition of two flight connections to China because these would mean more Chinese tourists visiting the region.

“More direct flights to Cebu would mean more tourists from China. This would mean an increase in our share of the Chinese outbound tourists,” Lanete said in a text message to Cebu Daily News.

Lanete said China is an important source market, not only for Cebu but for Philippine tourism and that it is a big and growing market. Increased connectivity between Cebu and China would also provide greater business and trade opportunities for Cebuanos and Central Visayas as a whole.

China market, visitors

Central Visayas welcomed 2 million visitors between January and April 2017, 1.09 million of which were foreign visitors while, further broken down, 126,599 were from China.

China is the third biggest tourist market of the region, posting a growth rate of 77.86 percent during the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2016.

Meanwhile, Cebu welcomed 1.4 million domestic and foreign visitors from January to April 2017.

The Chinese market is also Cebu’s third biggest foreign tourism source, commanding a 10-percent share in the top 10 with 66,593 tourists recorded during the period covered in 2017 compared to the 32,501 visitors logged last year.

Priorities

GMCAC president Louie Ferrer, for his part, said promoting the province and its surrounding areas to other Asian countries, especially China, is among their highest priorities.

By the end of October, MCIA will serve a total of 18 international destinations and 35 domestic destinations.

“Studies have shown that China is the highest spending tourist market in the world; we want to bring this high-spending Chinese market to Cebu,” he said.

Ferrer also spoke about the appeal of Cebu as a tropical destination, adding that Cebu has endless natural wonders, but it still has all the modern luxuries.

It is also a tourist-friendly place because its people are very warm towards visitors and can communicate well in English, he said.

Selling strategy

Destination marketing, according to Ferrer, is their main strategy in strengthening Cebu’s connectivity.

“We have seen outstanding results from our destination marketing initiatives these past three years, but this is only the beginning. We are looking to promote Cebu to other untapped markets and this includes other provinces in China. Australia and other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand are also high on our list,” he said.

Ferrer confirmed that the company is also targeting new flights to North Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe. MCIA will also open more domestic flights later in the year.

GMCAC took over operations of the MCIA on November 1, 2014. At the time, MCIA had only seven international and 23 domestic destinations.