Saturday, August 16, 2008 Northern Cebu towns identified as top destinations in Visayas By Jose Jello Cubelo Of Sun.Star Cebu
CREATING new, convenient and accessible tourism destinations, the Department of Tourism (DOT) pushed areas in Northern Cebu as one of the three top strategic destination areas (SDA) in the Visayas.
Learning from problems brought about by the lack of infrastructure projects, DOT Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano said, in a press conference yesterday, that for these areas to “take-off” as sustainable tourism destinations, they must have vital infrastructure, such as airport, ‘upgraded’ roads, waste management, power and water supply systems, among others.
The other two SDAs identified were Panglao, Bohol and Northern Palawan.
The other destinations eyed for promotion were the Caticlan-Boracay and Carabao Island corridors.
In Northern Cebu, DOT is looking at the Sogod-Bantayan-Malapascua corridor as an SDA.
“We say that there is an existing airport in the area situated in Bantayan. The problem however is, the airport is in the island, which is not accessible to nearby areas,” Durano said.
“We are pushing Neda (National Economic and Development Authority) to complete infrastructure developments first to lure more investments and further develop these areas for tourism,” he said.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) is conducting technical studies on the proposed projects.
Durano said that Jica has P28 million in its disposal to complete the studies.
Investors
“We are fast-tracking everything this year so that we can still avail of the yen loan that the government is negotiating (with Jica on),” he said.
“We want to change the way we plan development projects so that when we invite investors to come to us, we can present to them a complete package,” he added.
For Malaspascua to become a sustainable tourist destination, an efficient waste management system will have to be in place, Durano said.
He cited Boracay’s garbage problem due to the absence of a waste management facility.
“The more tourists we have, the more garbage we have,” Durano said. Without a system to properly dispose wastes products, they eventually go to the sea,” he said.
Meanwhile, Durano said Cebu needs to broaden its market base and attract tourists from other countries “Cebu should not only be dependent to one market” to protect its tourism industry from sudden factors that may cause the decrease of a particular market,” he said
Koreans still account for 40 percent of tourist arrivals in the province at a total of 79, 383. Leisure sites and beaches were their favorite destinations.
DOT is also positioning Cebu as a wedding and honeymoon destination as well as a language training site for Koreans.
Japanese tourists also still favor Cebu, said Durano. They already totaled 28,991 for the first half of 2008.
The growing tourist markets are China, with a 68 percent increase, due to DOT-initiated charter flights from Shanghai; Europe with a 23 percent hike; North America with a one percent increase and India, an emerging market whose number of nationals visiting Cebu hiked by 20 percent.
