Tourism sector eyes bigger market

By Mia A. Aznar

Thursday, September 27, 2012
AS THE World Tourism Organization sees the Asia Pacific region as the next region to see in 10 to 20 years, local tourism stakeholders are aiming to get the Philippines on the large global tourism market.
Research, Education and Institutional Development (REID) Foundation vice president Cherrylyn Rodolfo, who presented to local stakeholders the state of Philippine tourism, said the country is ready to take advantage of this due to its strategic location in the Asia Pacific region and in Southeast Asia.

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The Asia Pacific region has an annual tourism growth rate of 6.3 percent while Southeast Asian countries grew 6.8 percent.
She said that if the Philippines wants to catch up with its neighbors, it has to come up with new products to offer tourists. Rodolfo said the country had a “dismal performance” from 1980 to 2010.
They learned that it takes a visitor several years to realize his desire to travel to the Philippines. When they determined to find out why, she said there were indications that tourism suppliers had to turn guests away at certain times of the year due to a lack of capacity to accommodate them.
There is also a lack of products to lure them.
These, she said, were mostly during peak season.
Constraints
“So even if the Philippines was number one in their list, the visit was not realized because of the constraints they faced,” said Rodolfo.
Still, she believes the landscape of Philippine tourism is about to change, with the government completing its National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) to come up with competitive tourism products, enhance connectivity and strengthen governance.
Rodolfo noted that in the product portfolio of the Philippines, which are sun and beach, culture, nature and cruise and nautical tourism, Cebu is able to offer all of these. “The question now is, do we want to part of that growth or are we content to watch at the sidelines?” she told those present.
Following the NTDP, she said some provinces have begun setting up their own tourism plan. Rodolfo said Cebu seems to have a major role for many of these provinces.
She explained that the Mactan-Cebu International Airport serves as a major gateway to many provinces and that the success of these destinations will also depend on how well the airport is positioned. She was glad to hear of the plans to expand it and added that the airport still has room for expansion so that it can serve other tourism development areas.
Rodolfo cited Bohol as a province that considers its linkage with Cebu as critical to their tourism plans and that there have been moves to work on tourism loops similar to what Hong Kong and Macau have. She said this can be explored by improving the ferry services and the port facilities and offering online bookings.
Competitors
Despite Cebu’s critical role in the development of other provinces, Rodolfo warned that even if they can be allies, these other provinces could also become competitors if Cebu does not work on its own tourism plan. Currently, there are plans to complete an international airport in Panglao, Bohol while other airports are also being improved. She added that Iloilo, which is the third busiest airport in the country, currently has no international flights. However, it will start its international flight to and from Hong Kong by November.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on September 28, 2012.