The interface of Cebu province’s online tourism booking portal.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The online booking system for Cebu’s tourism offerings is now up.
The tourism portal, discover.cebu.gov.ph, will host the booking of all the tourism activities offered by the towns and cities in the province.
As of Wednesday, July 29, 2020, the website has listed eleven tourism activities available for booking, including the heritage tour in Carcar City, hiking and birdwatching in the Nug-as Forest in Alcoy, snow world in Minglanilla, Cabecera Walking Tour for Argao’s hablon, Mantayupan Falls in Barili, canyoneering in Alegria and Badian, Pescador Island in Moalboal, and the whale shark watching and paragliding activities in Oslob.
Provincial Tourism Officer Maria Lester Ybañez said the website is still a work in progress and is eyed to feature over 50 offerings when completed, including heritage and cultural tour packages.
“For now, we are putting up first the tourism activities from the towns that are ready,” Ybañez said.
On Friday, July 31, the whale shark watching in Oslob will lead the launching of the reopening of Cebu’s tourism industry, followed by beach activities and the sardine run in Moalboal on August 1, and the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Adventure in Barili on August 2.
READ: Oslob’s whale watching to lead reopening of Cebu’s tourism industry
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in earlier interviews, said the portal is intended to limit the number of guests that will visit in the tourism destinations in the province at a given time and observe social distancing protocols in the tourism establishments.
For instance, the whale shark watching activity in Oslob will be limited to 1,000 persons per day while canyoneering will be limited to 300 participants per site, per day.
Under Executive Order no. 20-A, which sets the guidelines for the reopening of Cebu’s tourism industry, walk-in participants will not be allowed.
Aside from the booking mechanism, payments for availing of the tourism packages will be made through money remittance firms and online banking.
Once full payment for the chosen tour packages is made, clients will be released with a radio frequency ID (RFID) code, which they will present on their scheduled visit to the tourism site in exchange of an RFID bracelet.
The RFID can be reloaded, still through money remittance centers and online banking, to serve as their e-wallet while they are at the tourism site. /bmjo
