Monday, November 13, 2006 Crash course on Cebu culture urged for delegates, tourists By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
WHILE Cebu prepares to be a hospitable host to delegates of an international event next month, the Cebu City Council also wants tourists to be courteous to Cebuanos.
The council urged the Department of Tourism (DOT) to design a short orientation course so travel agencies and tour guides will be properly equipped in providing tourists with practical tips about Cebuano culture.
Learning the customs, beliefs and practices of Cebuanos could help make the tourists’ stay and interaction with the locals more relaxing and pleasurable, the council said.
In a resolution approved last Wednesday, Councilor Edgardo Labella said a crash course on basic customs and practices will prevent conflict between tourists and locals.
“While the feverish pitch of the government’s pre-summit preparation is generally on the right track, some sectors consider giving proper orientation to tourists regarding local customs and beliefs, which can sustain the growth and development of Cebu’s tourism industry,” he said.
Labella proposed the resolution after receiving several complaints on the alleged misbehavior of foreign visitors here.
“Some concerned players in the local tourism industry opine that despite their diligent efforts to politely treat each tourist, still, they find it hard to stomach some alleged misbehavior committed by some ill-disciplined foreigners,” Labella said.
The cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu and the municipality of Cordova will host the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit next month.
To ensure that terrorists will not enter Cebu during the summit, the council also asked the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to improve its profiling of foreigners and adopt strict procedures in screening them.
The BI will be able to help secure Cebu during the summit, being the lead government agency tasked to bar the entry of illegal and undesirable aliens, the council said.
Labella recalled several incidents involving misbehaving tourists, including the “embarrassing” incident when some Koreans used the historic Fort San Pedro as their photo shoot backdrop for scantily dressed women.
He also told the council about a taxi driver’s experience with his tourist passengers who, despite his admonitions, persisted in putting their smelly feet up on the headrest of his cab.
“Much as the country, including Cebu City, needs the tourists to sustain the industry, having a tourist-friendly policy should not mean sweeping under the red carpet the universally recognized rule that a foreigner’s stay in a country is a mere privilege and not a right,” Labella added.
