Tour body to launch tweaked tourism campaign

Lakbay Lingaw

TETTA BAAD

The Cebu Tourism Commission (CCTC) is set to launch Lakbay Lingaw, a new tourism campaign to help Cebu’s Tourism industry to continue to move forward.

“The Lakbay Lingaw is a tourism campaign that we hope to institutionalize and become an annual tourism event every September,” said CCTC chairperson Tetta Baad in an interview at the sidelines of  the Balik Cebu launching last Thursday.

The campaign will be launched during the Miss Cebu Pageant coronation night on Jan. 14.

According to Baad, Cebu, before it became a top tourist destination had to launch the “Cebu an Island in the Pacific” campaign; and thus, started to see tourists coming in.

“That was the time when we had Martial Law so it was challenging to encourage people to come visit Cebu. So the hotels and resorts bonded with CCTC and went on a 10 city sales blitz for two years.

We were encouraging Filipinos to take the chartered flights offered by PAL (Philippine Airlines) then,” she said.

Because of that, more people became aware of Sinulog festival and the tourism industry came alive.

“Today, Cebu is among the top tourist destinations recognized by many international magazines. We have been consistently on top, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We have to do something to keep tourism moving forward and not get overtaken by our neighbors,” she said.

The Lakbay Lingaw is what they thought as the best thing to maintain Cebu’s tourism pull.

She said the Lakbay Lingaw will highlight historical and cultural sites as its main matrix.

“We will be prioritizing restoration of the damaged historical and cultural sites as well as enhance travel experience of the tourists,” she said.

Baad said there will also be a shopping festival using the Cebu in the Bag campaign of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“The Cebu in the Bag campaign will be turned over to the Philippine Retailers Association in Cebu to hold the shopping sale. It will be the grandest sale event of the year where people can do their Christmas shopping,” she said.

They will also be coordinating with the tour operators, the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu, the airlines and shipping companies for Lakbay Lingaw to be one huge package of bargains.

“That will provide more opportunities for people to really come visit Cebu,” she said.

She said they are also talking with the Cebu Arts Council to mount a cultural show on September in malls and other venues.

“We’ll start this year and hopefully we’ll create an ordinance to institutionalize Lakbay Lingaw and make it an annual event for Cebu,” she said.

They will also be giving Lakbay Lingaw Awards for those institutions that have contributed much to Cebu’s tourism.

This will be done every September 27 which was also declared as the World Tourism Day.

For their budget, Baad said the Cebu City Council has approved a P16 million budget that they will be using to mobilize their plans.