Sun.Star Economic Forum

GOVERNMENT should start to expand the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) now if it wants to attract more tourists to Cebu, Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said. (more)

DESPITE reported losses in the export sector, particularly among furniture exporters and seaweed processing companies, the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) identified the two industry segments as promising investment areas in Cebu. (more)

A RECORD three million foreign tourists are projected to visit the Philippines this year, if the arrivals trend from January to June continues, making 2007 a potentially “monumental year,” Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said yesterday. (more)

CEBU CITY (Updated 5:04 p.m.) — In response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s target of making Central Philippines as a tourism mega-region, the Tourism department drafted a program for Cebu to garner one million foreign visitors in 2012. (more)

SABAH’S top tourist market is its domestic visitors unlike in other countries like the Philippines where foreign visitors are the top travelers.

Data from Tourism Malaysia presented by Datuk Karim Bujang, assistant minister of Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment, during Thursday’s Sun.Star Economic Forum 2007, showed that domestic visitors continued to be its top traveler from 2004 to early 2007.

Bujang said in 2006, Sabah’s visitor arrivals reached the two million mark - this represents a staggering increase of 460 percent from 373,180 arrivals in 1997. Read the rest of this entry »

THE time to invest in tourism facilities is now, according to Gregory L. Domingo, director of SM Investments Corporation, during the Sun.Star Economic Forum 2007 Thursday.

Domingo said the tourism industry should see the need to have a variety of accommodations for tourists of different economic capacities. “What we lack are good, cheap accommodations for domestic travelers and expensive accommodations for tourists,” he said.

For SM, he said, it would open by next year its new hotel with 400 rooms. Other big projects by other companies are in the pipeline too. These are examples of the private sector investments in tourism.

Domingo was one of the speakers of the forum that tackles the role of Cebu in the national economy. (Sunnex)

Click here to download presentation - Durano report

TOURISM Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano presented Thursday the tourism department’s actionable medium-term vision for Cebu — one million tourists in 2012.

Durano, speaking before the Sun.Star Economic Forum 2007 at the Marco Polo Hotel, said the vision is actionable and doable.

Tourism figures showed that the growth of Cebu’s tourism industry has been consistently impressive, he said. It has grown an average of 14.33 percent over the last three years. Read the rest of this entry »

Tourists to Cebu like the hospitality of the local people and the scenery but are turned off by its bad roads and dirty environment.

Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano, speaker at the Sun.Star Economic Forum at the Marco Polo Hotel, said a survey among tourists showed that Cebu is a favorite destination because of the people’s “warm hospitality,” the beautiful scenery and the inexpensive products.

But, he said, what the tourists disliked about Cebu were its bad weather, bad roads, dirty environment and heavy traffic in the city.

Nevertheless, Durano foresees a US$12-billion tourist investment for 2012. (Sunnex)

CEBU, aside from being the tourism center of the Philippines, is also home to other promising industries that boost its competitiveness.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), in a presentation during the 2007 Sun.Star Economic Forum held Thursday, identified seven promising industries of Cebu.

Maria Madelyn Escandor of Neda Central Visayas identified these industries as the furniture manufacturing, shoe manufacturing, shipbuilding, seaweed processing, medical tourism, knowledge process outsourcing and film and entertainment.

Escandor said Cebu also provided certain roles in national development such as being a trade hub, tourist center and gateway, and leading producer of IT products and services.

Cebu’s strategic location at the heart of the archipelago makes it conducive to the flourishing of these industries. Other factors are the presence of an international airport, international port, roads and bridges, telecommunication facilities, recognized learning and training institutions and aggressive and innovative leaders, she said. (Sunnex)