Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Tourism infrastructure projects to spur trade growth in Visayas
THE administration’s focus on infrastructure development to promote growth in tourism throughout the country is good news to stakeholders.
Tourism Undersecretary Phineas Alburo said inter-island connectivity is essential in encouraging the movement of goods, or trade in general, and tourists.
“The beauty is that the basic thing for tourism, which is connectivity, is now in place. This is the best thing that has happened for tourism, trade and commerce,” he said.
“In central Cebu, we proclaimed a nature park. From Cebu, the top destination of foreign tourists, they can easily radiate to other destinations. Optimism is infectious, and opportunity irresistible. Progress follows progress. Someone, even government, just has to get it started,” Arroyo said in her Sona last Monday.
Other infrastructure projects for Cebu include the roll-on roll-off (Roro) ports connecting the province to Tubigon and to Ubay, Jagna and Panglao, all in Bohol Province.
Tour packages
“Once connectivity is completed, we can come up with more tour packages,” Alburo said.
In an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, he said additional tour packages will enable countryside tourism to flourish.
Teaching tourists to “become like the locals” as they blend with the people and the culture of the place is the main thrust of tourism industry players, Alburo said.
“To go out and be with the community is the essence of tourism” he said, adding that Roro vehicles provide the opportunity for tourists to explore other neighboring provinces.
He said that while foreign tourists confined themselves in luxury hotels and resorts in the past, today’s generation of visitors are inclined to venture into “land trips” as a cost effective means to explore tourism destinations in the countryside.
Anticipating the influx of tourist arrivals once inter-island accessibility is completed, Alburo said the Department of Tourism will continuously improve existing tour packages as it also looks into basic needs of tourists, such as proper signage and comfort rooms.
In a separate interview, Cebu Association of Tour Guides (CAT-G) president Rafael Tura said with the increase in number of tourist arrivals, particularly in Cebu, local tour guides underwent additional training to improve their capabilities in handling foreign guests.
CAT-G has 211 registered tour guides catering to Japanese, Europeans, Americans and Chinese tourists, he said. (MMM)
