Monday, September 10, 2007 Palau offers hand to Cebu
PALAU officials who were in Cebu vowed to coordinate with tourism players in Cebu to boost tourism activities in their country and in the province.
The 46-member team, led by Palau Senate President Surangel Whipps Sr. and Presidential Chief of Staff Billy Kuartei, came to Cebu Saturday to visit local key tourism stakeholders like tour operators, hotels and government officials to discuss effective means to promote Cebu and Palau as beach and diving destinations.
“It’s a win-win situation. We need to move together because we complement each other,” said Kuartei.
In an interview with reporters at the VIP lounge of the Mactan-Cebu
International Airport, Kuartei and Whipps agreed that Palau has much to gain from Cebu in terms of developing better infrastructure.
Cebu, on the other hand, can learn from Palau in preserving its environment.
Whipps said because of similarities in culture, food and tourist attractions, Palau tourism players have been actively promoting the Philippines, especially Cebu, as an alternative leisure and shopping destination.
Palau is a two-hour flight away from Cebu via local carrier Asian Spirit. The airline operates three flights per week from Cebu to Palau and vice versa.
“When tourists come to Palau, we always tell them to go to Cebu instead of Hawaii because of Cebu’s diving sites. And it is also cheaper here,” Kuartei said.
Palau has positioned itself as a high-end leisure destination attracting over 100,000 high spending tourists annually like the Japanese, Taiwanese and Europeans as well as Russians.
Palauans also want to attract high-spending Filipinos, Whipps said.
He said, though, that only a few Filipinos visit Palau due to lack of knowledge about the country and also because only a few organizations offer tour packages to the place.
“These are things we need to work on so that tourism will boom. Cebu and Palau are great destinations and that’s something we want the world to know,” he said.
Palau is an island nation in the Pacific, some 800 kilometers east of the Philippines. It is described by Wikipedia as one of the world’s youngest and smallest nations.
Its economy consists primarily of tourism, subsistence agriculture and fishing.
Tourist activities focus on scuba diving and snorkeling. Favorite destinations of tourists include the Floating Garden Islands in Koror and the Rock Islands.
Since Palau’s tourism is driven primarily by its beaches and diving sites, its citizens become protective of its environment and the kind of tourists who visit the country.
“We are strict with our diving spots. Most of our tourists are environmentalists,” said Kuartei.
Palau’s population is approximately 21,000, 70 percent of which are native Palauans, who are of mixed Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian descent. Filipinos form the second largest ethnic group in Palau.
Whipps said typhoons are rare, as Palau is outside the main typhoon zone. (MMM)
