Friday, May 18, 2007 CBM organizers to highlight ‘suroy-suroy’ to promote tourism
THIS year’s Cebu Business Month (CBM) celebration will highlight the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo as one of the major tourism activities.
Suroy-suroy sa Sugbo, an initiative of the Cebu Provincial Government, in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), aims to promote rural tourism and entrepreneurship.
It targets the showcasing of Cebu’s municipalities, not only to foreign tourists, but to local or domestic visitors.
“It has been getting the most calls,” Dr. Mila Espina, CBM chairperson of the Asean Tourism Congress, said after CBM has hiked up its marketing and advertising efforts through the local dailies and broadcast stations.
Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Patria Aurora Roa is optimistic that foreign and local delegates will see the potential of Cebu as a tourism destination in the country, especially as both the private and public sectors have been aggressive in promoting the province to investors and visitors.
Growing
“Cebu has a tourism-ready citizenry based on the growing tourist arrivals. It has a good mix of business and leisure,” she said during the signing of the memorandum of consortium for the CBM Tour Cebu Events held at Ching Palace yesterday.
The objectives of Tour Cebu are to bring in more tourists, maximize information networking, marketing and promotions, link Asia and the world, reinvent tour packages and improve services and establish tourism circuits in tandem with CBM.
CBM 2007 tourism activities will include the CBM Asean tourism congress, International Media Forum, 3rd Culture of Tourism, Shop Cebu, Suroy-Suroy Sugbo, and cultural shows in malls.
Promotions
Meanwhile, Espina echoed CCCI president Francis Monera’s statement that CBM 2007 will be a “crowd drawer” for locals and foreigners since the chamber has heightened its promotions during the Asean Inter-Regional Roadshow to selected countries in Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Beijing, China.
She announced that CCCI members have recently concluded the international road show.
Although the chamber could not yet determine the exact number of participants, Espina said DOT 7 alone has confirmed bookings of 300 foreign and local delegates.
Productive
Earlier, she said CCCI aims to get at least 15 delegates from the Southeast Asian countries.
The CBM, which started in 1991, is an annual trade and industry festival that provides a productive venue for businessmen, industry associations, local and foreign investors, tourists, representatives of both local government units and National Government to converge.
This year’s theme is “Let’s Go Cebu!,” which reflects the Cebuano’s readiness to rise to the challenge of globalization. (MMM)
