Thursday, May 15, 2008 Group mulls info drive on Cebu’s investment climate, tourism sites
BELIEVING it is important to project an image of Cebu that will encourage visitors to come back and eventually invest in the province, the Cebu Visitors and Convention Bureau (CVCB) is working on a comprehensive information dissemination setup that will properly orient visitors about the locality’s investment potentials.
Jonathan Jay Aldeguer, CVCB chairman, said that to project the right image, there should be a constant fixing and innovating of the product that is Cebu.
“We (saw the) need to constantly ask entrepreneurs and businessmen to invest in Cebu, especially when we came across many visitors asking for things to do here. And there is an abundance of things to do, ranging from cultural and entertainment to shopping and adventure,” he said.
He named Henry Sy of SM whose real estate development arm is bent on completing its first hotel venture called Sofitel Hotel, AYM Holdings Group president Alfredo Yao who acquired Asian Spirit more than a month ago, and Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines, as among those entrepreneurs and businessmen who recognized Cebu as a tourist destination and invested in it.
In a recent 888 News Forum, Aldeguer said that CVCB will focus on product development and information dissemination, as “there has been no concerted effort to (do so).”
Info kiosks
He lamented that people from Manila still have to call up friends in Cebu for basic details, such as locations of hotels nearest to the airport and how to get bookings for certain activities.
To address this, his group plans to coordinate with the Department of Tourism (DOT), shopping malls, and hotels for the creation or utilization of information kiosks in their areas as well as in the airport.
With CVCB performing as a “conduit” for tourism organizations, he hopes to work in tandem with different organizations, such as the Cebu Association of Travel Operators and the Hotel, Resort, Restaurant Association of Cebu.
The CVCB also wants to work on a campaign for the front liners, such as taxi drivers and rent-a-car operators whom they want to encourage to put up an audio-visual monitor inside their vehicles, showing Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano or a Department of Tourism representative welcoming passengers.
Aldeguer said CVCB plans to approach airline companies to work on showing another audio-visual material about Cebu in their planes five to 10 minutes before landing.
CVCB members still have to discuss these plans further, he said. (NRC)
