Tuesday, April 10, 2007 Fewer Japanese visit Cebu, RP
THE room shortage problem in Cebu’s hotels and resorts has discouraged the entry of Japanese tourists to the island, a Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 official said.
DOT 7 Director Patria Aurora Roa said that in her recent visit to Japan, she had to decline some package tours, which was supposedly bound for Cebu, due to room shortage.
“Japanese are high-end tourists, they like to stay in five-star resorts. But we have only very limited five-star resort rooms in Cebu, and majority of which are already booked by Korean tourists,” Roa said.
Korean visitors continue to lead the province’s list of tourists, with an arrival improvement of 13 percent totalling to 165,309 for last year alone.
Roa said the interest of Japanese nationals to reconsider Cebu as a destination has improved since the 9/11 incident in the United States.
However, local hotels and resorts cannot accommodate most of them anymore, she said.
Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation senior consultant Colin Marson earlier said Japanese travelers prefer other destinations like Phuket, Bali and Guam because these countries have invested so much in their marketing promotions to the Japanese market.
The Philippines reportedly lost about 500,000 Japanese tourists last year because of the room shortage problem.
In the 2006 annual accomplishment report by DOT 7 on tourist arrivals in Cebu, only a total of 117,000 Japanese visited Cebu last year, up from the 112,921 registered in 2005.
However, the growth of Japanese tourist arrivals in the province slowed down in 2006, with only a 3.93 percent increase from the double-digit growth it enjoyed in the past.
New rooms
DOT Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano earlier said the additional 1,000 hotel rooms that will soon open in Cebu will help address the problem on room shortage.
About 3,000 new rooms will be added in the Visayas area since three hotel chains are planning to put up facilities in Cebu, Boracay, Bohol and Palawan.
Durano said the three hotel and resort chains that are putting up facilities in the region are Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, Raffles Hotels and Resorts and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
He described the rooms to be “relevant and sellable,” with international three-star to five-star quality.
Durano also revealed that SM Prime Holdings Inc. is eyeing to complete the idle hotel located in the North Reclamation Area.
The hotel is set for completion once the expansion project in SM City Cebu, dubbed the “Northwing” which is a five-level annex to the mall, will be done. (MMM)
