DOT-7 chief: Visitors discovering Cebu has good connections to other destinations

Tourism Regional Director Catalino Chan III (fourth from left) welcomes the opening of new direct AirAsia flight routes from Cebu to Davao, Palawan and Boracay via Caticlan. The new flight routes were announced by AirAsia officials led by its chief executive officer, Dexter Comendador (5th from left) on Monday in Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Amid a growing tourism market, the opening of new domestic and international flight routes serviced from Cebu will help address the need for greater connectivity between destinations in the country.

Catalino Chan III, regional director of the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas (DOT-7), said tourists no longer have to fly to Manila to explore other destinations in the country as Cebu is becoming more connected to other parts of the Philippines.

“Manila is basically the supplier. The major international airport is in Manila. Tourists usually stay there and then go to other destinations. But then they find out that Cebu has very good connections to the rest of Central Visayas,” he told reporters during the launching of Philippines AirAsia’s newest summer destinations on Monday night.

Direct flights

AirAsia recently announced direct flights from Cebu to Davao, Palawan and Boracay via Caticlan starting April 22, in a bid to boost tourism in southern Philippines.

The airline introduced flights from Cebu to Singapore and Taipei in November last year and also increased the frequency of its Cebu–Kuala Lumpur flights from three times to four times weekly.

Chan said the region can leverage on these new flights to hit its targets in terms of tourism arrivals.

Latest figures from the DOT showed that tourist arrivals in Central Visayas grew by 16.39 percent to 4.99 million in January to November 2016 from 4.29 million during the same period in 2015.

For 2016, DOT-7 targets to welcome 5.8 million tourists.

Based on data gathered from accommodation establishments in the region, the number of domestic visitors during the period covered were logged at 2.96 million while foreign tourists were at 2.02 million.

In terms of visitor volume, Korea remains as Central Visayas’ top foreign market with 758,451 tourists, followed by Japan (328,954), China (210,450), USA (169,193) and Australia (54,425).

Tourists, markets

Cebu makes up 61.92 percent and 80.20 percent of domestic and foreign arrivals in the region, respectively.

The province welcomed 1.83 million domestic visitors from January to November 2016, 70 percent of which were recorded in Cebu City while 1.62 million foreign tourists came here during the period covered, 59.41 percent of which were recorded in Lapu-Lapu City.

Cebu’s top markets are Korea (711,644), Japan (314,997), USA (133,285), China (86,544) and Australia (41,698).

Familiarization tours

In order to sustain these new flights, Chan said he plans to hold familiarization tour exchanges for travel agents, tour operators, members of the media with those from destinations such as Palawan to promote the area to Cebu and vice versa.

Starting next year, DOT-7 will also launch a series of events that will feature the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Siquijor and Negros Oriental to Central Luzon through Clark.

“Specifically for Cebu, we will bring all the destinations from north to south. We will promote them for connectivity purposes. When there is a new flight being initiated, it is also my responsibility to promote the area, regardless of which airline (is servicing it),” said Chan.

Attaché offices

Furthermore, the DOT, on a national level, is also set to establish attaché offices all over the world to release travel advisories on new flights available in the Philippines.

GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s (MCIA) private operator, is currently undertaking the construction of a second terminal in anticipation of the surge of passengers in the next few years.

The airport’s second terminal, set to be operational in June 2018, was seen to increase the facility’s capacity to 12.8 million per year from 8.9 million in 2016, 75 percent of whom were locals.

By end-2017, MCIA expects to serve 10 million passengers, a 12 percent jump from figures in 2016.

MCIA, now being operated and expanded by GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., currently serves 16 international destinations and 27 domestic destinations with 19 partner airline carriers.