CCCI to initiate meeting with tourism chief Puyat

Tourism stakeholders in Cebu are planning to sit down with new tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat soon to formally present possible actions to maximize Cebu's potential.

This developed after the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) concluded its Tourism Innovation Forum recently as its flagship event of this year's Cebu Business Month (CBM 2018).

Tourism Innovation Forum chairman Edwin Ortiz believes that Puyat can help maximize Cebu's potential to rake in high revenues in tourism.

However, before meeting the tourism chief, Ortiz said the Chamber will first meet with stakeholders to identify top concerns wherein Puyat can be of help.

Instead putting it in black and white or making a resolution after the Innovation Tourism Forum, stakeholders may prefer to have a face-to-face dialogue with the secretary.

Meanwhile, Ortiz said what is common and obvious is the unresolved issue on traffic.

“The number one help that we need is to have the traffic problem in Cebu solved. The new airport terminal promises to triple or quadruple the number of tourists coming in but how do we let them cross Cebu from Mactan swiftly and comfortably? How do we make tourists enjoy going around the city if they waste hours getting stuck in traffic? So it's really improvement in infra that's top priority and this is under the Department of Transportation (DOTr), maybe the secretary can help us,” said Ortiz.

Initially, Puyat already met with some industry organizations like Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association (HRRAC), Federation of Tourists Transport in Cebu, among others.