Tourism, agri rallies boost Cebu amid pandemic
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia manifested her full support for the project.
CEBU CITY — As the province of Cebu ushers in the New Year, the Department of Tourism in Central Visayas stressed that the year 2022 will be remembered as a rallying time for the Cebuanos who are bouncing back from the effect of the two-year economic standstill brought about by the pandemic and a typhoon in December 2021.
This, as the province has scaled up the tourism industry and agriculture in the province.
According to DoT-7 director Undersecretary Shalimar Tamano, there was an upward trend in the number of tourist arrival in the province, with some 1.8 million in the first nine months of 2022.
Based on the DoT’s partial report, the figure is up 175.32 percent from the 669,243 tourists during the same period in 2021 as the agency recorded 317,761 foreign tourist arrivals, an increase of 661.58 percent while it registered 1.5 million local tourists, an increase of more than 142 percent as against the same period of 2021.
The record showed that South Koreans remain to be Cebu’s top visitors with arrivals, followed by Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Britons, Germans, Canadians, Singaporeans and the Emiratis.
In Central Visayas, the DoT recorded 2.2 million tourists in 2022, an increase of 159.61 percent from the 860,647 arrivals in 2021. Of the number, local tourists accounted to 1.9 million while foreigners at 334,668.
With the upward trend of tourist arrivals not only in Cebu, but also in the neighboring provinces of Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, the tourism industry is counting on more visitor traffic with the introduction of the country’s e-Travel system, a streamlined digitized platform that makes it is more convenient for travelers to register.
DoT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco said the system, a response to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s direction, supports the removal of the One Health Pass, a document required by travelers at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The system is the transition to the E-arrival Card and a full integration of the arrival and departure systems by the relevant government agencies.
“We are hopeful that with the continued collaboration between government agencies to improve the mechanisms of travel into and around the Philippines, we can encourage greater mobility and travel confidence and welcome an enhanced traveler experience,” Frasco said.
Apart from the digitization of tourism services, Cebu will also be among the provinces in the country that will benefit from the effort of the DoT to improve internet connectivity in 94 identified tourist destinations across the country.
Frasco stressed that the move is part of the DoT’s vision to fully digitize tourist transactions and integrate them into one system to further entice foreign and local tourists to go around the country seamlessly.
The province will also have a bright future for its tourist industry with the introduction of DoT’s flagship programs such as the Tourist Rest Areas, Philippine Experience caravan and Bisita, Be My Guest.
Frasco led the ceremonial signing of the memorandum of agreement for the Tourist Rest Area in the City of Carcar, south of Cebu province.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia manifested her full support for the project, which is also in response to the directive of President Marcos to improve the country’s tourism infrastructure and enhance the overall tourist experience.
“We proceeded to the other parts of the country and the world. One of the things that was asked of us was to put a rest area for tourists here in Carcar, which really is the gateway to the southeast and the southwest of Cebu,” Garcia, said.
The project, she said, is a fulfillment of the commitment of the Marcos administration “to enhance the entire tourism experience, to provide our tourists with not only the treat of arriving in the destination but also a comfortable and convenient journey along the way.”
The rest area in Carcar will feature the use of Filipino-centric materials and design elements while providing a roof for clean and decent restrooms.
Meanwhile, farmers are now recovering after more than two years of having difficulties marketing their produce due to lockdowns and town-to-town border restrictions, after the Department of Agriculture successfully introduced in Cebu the Kadiwa Project of the Marcos administration.
Joel Elumba, DA-7 regional executive director, said the Kadiwa ng Pasko project gives local farmers the opportunities to market their produce and provide consumers an access to fresh and affordable agri-fishery products.