Hotel industry resilient amid travel advisories

Cebu’s hospitality industry has remained resilient this year amid the various travel advisories issued by some countries, an industry official said.

Carlo Suarez, president of the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), said Cebu's hospitality sector continues to thrive this year.

"The hospitality industry is doing great despite the different travel and security advisories," he told The FREEMAN yesterday.

"Cebu is thriving and is slowly making its way to becoming one of the top premier destinations in the world," added Suarez, who is general manager of Cebu Grand Hotel.

He said the hotel industry remains optimistic on the future prospects considering that additional local and international brands are also arriving in Cebu.

The new terminal at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) will also support these growth prospects.

"The tourism and hospitality industry is sure to look positively good," the HRRAC official said.

He also said the increasing number of direct flights from and to Cebu further makes the tourism sector bright this year and in the future.

Last October 24, UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advised its citizens against traveling to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between military and insurgent groups.

The FCO further warned against all but essential travel to the remainder of Mindanao (excluding Camiguin, Dinagat and Siargao Islands) and to the south of Cebu province, up to and including the municipalities of Dalaguete and Badian due to the threat of terrorism.

Central Visayas' tourism sector also faced a significant hurdle early this year following several advisories issued by countries such as the US, UK, Japan and Korea due to security reasons.

According to preliminary data from the Department of Tourism, tourist arrivals in Central Visayas went down by 3.02 percent between January and April this year, partly attributed to the travel advisories issued by some countries due to terrorism threats in the Philippines.

Central Visayas welcomed 2 million tourists in the first four months of 2017, down 3.02 percent compared to the 2.1 during the same period last year.

The DOT recorded 5.95 million arrivals in Central Visayas in 2016.

The tourism department had said it was optimistic on the upward growth of the country’s international tourist arrivals.

Foreign arrivals breached the four million mark in the first eight months as new key markets for Philippine tourism emerge.

Tourism Undersecretary Rolando Canizal was earlier quoted as saying in a Philippine Star report that international arrivals reached 4.4 million from January to August, up 10 percent year-on-year.

For this year, the tourism department aims to hit the seven million mark in international arrivals, higher than the 5.9 million arrivals recorded in 2016.

The growth was attributed to the efforts of the government and the private sector, particularly hoteliers and airlines, to promote tourism across the country.