Tourism players sharpen edge vs Asean neighbors

While tourism growth is expected, stakeholders are moving on to beef up the province’s competitive advantage over other destinations in Asean.

Cebu-Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos) president Alice Queblatin believes that Cebu has to be on its toes as competition among other countries within the Asean is tougher now, and everybody is working hard to attract travelers around the world.

She said constant re-packaging or providing excitement to tourists is crucial in order to sustain the growth momentum.

Accessibility is also the main key to improve Cebu’s competitive advantage, as more direct flights are to be made available from different global gateways.

On the other hand, Queblatin agreed with other stakeholders saying that the big-ticket events and tourism trade shows as well as the reported high occupancy in hotels will get tour operators and tour guides a bit occupied in 2019.

Among the confirmed big meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (Mice) activities which will be held in Cebu are the Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) Annual Summit 2019, Routes Asia 2019, and Capa LCC Summit 2019.

Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat also believes that Cebu’s tourism will rise further in 2019 because of big and iconic events to be held here.

Cebu is a perfect target for these big ticket and high profile events not only for its touristic lure, but for the establishment of world-class terminal, which connect to major ports of call around the world.

According to Puyat, Cebu should beef up its preparations in hosting these big events, specifically the two events (Routes Asia, CAPA) , as these are the sophisticated ground to invite big MICE events in the future.

While MICE is going to be the landmark bait of Cebu to attract more tourists, it also has to create more products to entertain tourists aside from beaches and sightseeing.