CEBU IS ‘EASY’ TO SELL TO KOREANS

Cebu gets ‘good reviews in hospitality,’ says Cebu Pacific director for marketing, a reason many Korean tourists make return trips

The Koreans remain the strongest market in Cebu among other Asian tourists that frequent the province, and figures are expected to grow this year.

Cebu Pacific (CEB) sees the Korean market contributing to the high tourist arrivals in Cebu, which increased by 16.3 percent in 2018.

“We see in our Korea flights that there are more Koreans than Cebuanos or locals because there’s already a familiarity with the destination. So it’s easy for us to entice them to go to the Philippines,” Blessie Cruz, Cebu Pacific director for marketing, said.

Cruz said Koreans prefer Cebu to other tourist destinations in the country because of the province’s good reviews in terms of hospitality.

“When they try to search online, there are more good stories about Cebu than other destinations within the Philippines. So if we’re talking about the Korean market, it’s easy to sell Korea to Cebu because there’s so much content and so much information about the province as a destination,” she said.

The Deparment of Tourism (DOT) 7 released last year’s figures and Korean tourist arrivals reached 1.3 million, followed by China at 621,993, Japan at 464,564, United States at 232,288 and Taiwan at 84,750.

“Koreans love to travel and they travel more than other Asian countries. We also have a lot of non-first timers from the Korean market because a lot of them come here for English training and they tend to come back. Through word-of-mouth, they advertise Cebu,” Cruz said.

For its 23rd anniversary, Cebu Pacific will offer with one million seats and deals for all domestic and international destinations for the whole month of March.

“In the past, when we do our peso fare, it’s good for two days and three days and then we stop. This one, it’s to be expected that almost every day in March, there will be special seat sales and deals for all our passengers,” Cruz said.

Targeting first time travelers, the sale will not only apply to the Philippines but also to neighboring countries.

Group promo fares will also be introduced for the first time during the promo CEB Super Seat Fest.

The sale also includes up to P100 off on inflight meals, 40 percent discount on baggage allowance, and up to 42 percent discount on hotel rates through CEB Getaways.

Cruz said the seat sales will usher more travelers that will boost the tourism in Cebu.

“It’s really pushing for people to travel outside Manila because we have direct flights. From Cebu, we fly to 21 domestic and five international destinations,” she said.

“Every time we do a sale, it’s two-way. We’re selling seats for Filipinos to go out of the Philippines but at the same time, we’re also giving seat sales for the international market like Korea, Japan and other countries,” Cruz said. /