2018 to realize the tourism promise

Tourism stakeholders in Cebu are preparing to capture a stream of opportunities as 2018 is expected to bring "the promise of tourism" into fruition.

Cebu Association of Tour Operations Specialists (CATOS) president Alice Queblatin said that as the previous year was tagged as a banner year for Cebu's tourism sector, 2018 will see an avalanche of opportunities that tourism will bring.

One could only imagine the effect of the opening of the new Mactan International Airport Terminal 2 to the tourism industry in Cebu and the rest of the neighboring islands.

Thus, while the private sector is doing its best to take advantage of this high stride, Queblatin said there is also a need for the government to strengthen its support to the industry.

For the travel operators, Queblatin said players are ready to introduce attractive and enhanced travel itineraries for the tourists, including the introduction of interactive, educational, and heritage and culture immersion packages.

Local hotel operators are likewise anticipating for a year-round high occupancy, despite the entry of more new hotels in the metropolis, said Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) president Carlo Suarez.

Being a world-class destination, Suarez said that local hotel brands are also readying themselves to offer world-class services as they are bound to compete with the international hotel and resort chains that are coming in.

Like Queblatin, Suarez is also banking on the opening of a new airport as the main fuel to make tourism industry the top revenue contributor for Cebu this year.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Melanie C. Ng also expressed similar outlook, saying tourism will become the star-performer in Cebu's economy in 2018.

Tourism will serve as a strong magnet for high growth, which will also give birth to more investments across industries like retail, real estate, among others, added Ng.

Even the real estate sector is also drawing its confidence from the tourism sector.

Ng said tourism will not only bring in cash flow to the economy from tourists spending, but more importantly long term investments that will result to employment opportunities.

This year, Queblatin said Cebu will start to see the influx of younger tourists who will boost the tourism businesses of the countryside destinations.

"Luxury accommodation is not in this young generations' radar. Their choice of destinations are those in the outskirts, countryside and those undiscovered places," said Queblatin.

Thus, the countryside towns in Cebu province in particular are called to prepared their respective accommodation and other tourism-related facilities, as the remotest, unheard-of places are now the most in demand destination of choice by the travel-addict young millennials.

Regardless of social status and financial capacities, the thick millennial market spends voraciously on travel as if it is part of their basic necessities.

Queblatin believes that this is the right time for countryside destinations to gear up, especially in providing decent, clean, and affordable accommodation.

On the government side, Department of Tourism (DOT7) regional director Joshur Judd Lanete II announced that Cebu will see a different face of tourism starting this year, as huge and unique tourism facilities will be built and introduce.

Big ticket tourism projects will be unveiled in Cebu this year, boosting the tourism edge of the province, Lanete said.

In fact, DOT chief Wanda Teo already approved these projects. Lanete further disclosed that although these projects are private sector initiated, investors are closely working with the DOT.

Negotiations for offering more water taxis to link mainland Cebu to neigboring islands are also ongoing. This means that Cebu will expect a better inter-island connectivity starting 2018.

"From the port in Mactan Island, we can easily bring the tourists to the north and south points of Cebu," the director who was installed in the middle of this year said.

He also mentioned the formal commercial opening of the spanning Carmen Zoo, owned by jewelry magnate Michel Lhuillier, which has been dubbed as the biggest tourism come-ons in Cebu by far.