Resorts to offer 50% discount

FOR the next three months, domestic tourists will get 50 percent discount on accommodations in hotels and resorts in Lapu-Lapu City which are taking part in a tourism campaign.

With an expected slump in tourist arrivals following the travel ban for nationals from Hong Kong and China due to the hostage fiasco in Manila, City officials and tourism stakeholders came up with a tourism promotional program, which involves offering members of the media from major cities of the country free airfare and resort accommodation in an effort to promote the city’s tourist spots.

Updates on President Benigno Aquino III's presidency

The program also aims to shift the focus from foreign to domestic tourists to cushion the effect of the travel ban.

Visitors from Hong Kong and China rank fourth in tourist arrivals in the region.

With the hostage drama that claimed the lives of eight Hong Kong tourists last month, hotel officials in Lapu-Lapu City expect a three to six months drought on Chinese tourists.

“It became clear that Lapu-Lapu resorts and tourism stakeholders are going to be badly hit,” Mayor Paz Radaza said in her meeting with general managers of the different hotels.

Dubbed “Lapu-Lapu City-The Island Experience,” the program includes resorts offering 50 percent discount on accommodations to domestic tourists from Sept. 15 to Dec. 20.

Position paper

Cebu Pacific Air committed to fly invited members of the media from the cities of Manila, Davao, Bacolod and Iloilo to Cebu.

In Lapu-Lapu, the media people will be toured to different islets for free by Island Banca Cruises.

The stakeholders agreed to put their commitments in a position paper, which will be distributed to other tourism players.

Island Souvenirs promised to come up with several T-shirt designs for the visitors and put up tarpaulins around the city.

Radaza said the City’s economy is dependent on tourism so it has to be protected and promoted both by the local government and industry players.

Meanwhile, Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district), chairman of the House Committee on public order and safety, intends to call for an investigation on the Aug. 24 hostage-taking.

But he will only do so after the ongoing investigation, headed by the Department of Justice, will be completed.

“Because while it is a very hot issue, my concern is that we should not duplicate or worse, hamper the investigation of the proper authorities,” said Garcia.

He also explained the investigation is the concern of the executive, so the Lower House will do one in aid of legislation.

Garcia also said Rep. Luigi Quisumbing’s (Cebu, 6th) draft bill banning live media coverage on police and military actions during a crisis is worth looking into.

“While there are existing rules, existing protocols regarding coverage of crisis situations especially where lives of people are at stake...I don't think they are properly enforced,” said Garcia.

The bill, he said, will open the debate on the parameters of media coverage.

His father, Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd) said the final version of the bill may not call for a media blackout but the discussion will gather inputs from other congressmen as well as the media.

But the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP)-Cebu expressed its disapproval on Quisumbing’s bill.

KBP-Cebu chapter president Carlo Dugaduga said the media abides by existing protocols and the KBP code, so the bill is a duplication.

Lawyer Ruphil Fernandez Bañoc, KBP-Cebu vice president for AM, said no law should be passed hampering the right to express.

He said the draft bill is a violation of prior restraint, citing Article 3, Sections 4 of the 1987 Constitution, which states “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances.”