CBC to revisit tourism masterplan

Monday, December 12, 2011

THE Cebu Business Club (CBC) is working with local business chambers for its plan to revisit and re-study the old tourism masterplan of Cebu.

CBC president Dondi Joseph, in an interview over the weekend, told reporters the initiative is to come up with one consolidated tourism masterplan that will be presented to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

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“As soon as we come up with one consolidated tourism masterplan for Cebu, we will propose this to the DOT to include in their budget,” Joseph said.

According to Joseph, CBC will spearhead this project in partnership with the Research, Education and Institutional Development (REID), a policy research advocacy group based in Pasig City.

Joseph said coming up with one consolidated tourism masterplan for Cebu is vital considering that it is the gateway to all islands in the country. Cebu, he said, should fix all of its tourism components.

He said that despite the slow growth in the export industry this year due to the economic problems in Europe and the United States, the business process outsourcing and tourism industries have become the “compensating factor” of the Cebu economy.

The revised Cebu Tourism masterplan is expected to be completed by February or March 2012.

Joseph said that among the priorities that will be highlighted in reevaluating the tourism masterplan are the tourism infrastructure and the accreditation of hotels and restaurants here. He said the masterplan will also address the marketing and branding of Cebu.

Sought for comments, tourism stakeholder Jay Aldeguer, president of the Islands Group of Companies, said in a text message yesterday that any form of “re-evaluation” for Cebu is always good.

“I truly believe Cebu needs to plot its direction and study how it wants to position itself if we are truly serious about becoming a major destination in the region. Cebu pretty much has everything to be competitive, we just need to ‘tweak’ a few things to strengthen our position,” Aldeguer said.

He cited as an example the number of whale sharks in the town of Oslob as another reason the tourist should come and visit Cebu but Aldeguer emphasized that these “features” should be properly orchestrated.

He said creating a masterplan is a different challenge.

Joseph said in order to come up with a consolidated tourism masterplan, inputs from all tourism stakeholders are needed. CBC will also tap the local government units to help them re-study the masterplan.

Joseph also proposed the creation of “tourism villages” that would showcase all tourism products in the barangay level.