IF COMPARED with other famous Asian beach destinations such as Indonesia’s Bali and Thailand’s Phuket, Cebu’s hotel room supply isn’t catching up with the demand that’s seen to further grow in the future.

That stands as a bottleneck to Cebu’s tourism potential, said Andrew Acquuah-Harrison, chief executive advisor at GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp.

“Cebu has a significant supply-demand gap in the hotel industry, creating a bottleneck for tourism growth in Cebu,”

he said.

Citing data from the Department of Tourism and Colliers International, he said Cebu has around 10,600 three-to-five-star hotel rooms compared to Phuket which has 47,475 rooms and Bali with 50,000 rooms.

This big difference is partly the reason hotel rates in Metro Cebu are costlier.

“This has led to higher prices of comparable brands in Cebu against better served destinations like Phuket and Bali,” Harrison said.

Hotel rates per night

Based on a research study conducted by property consulting firm Santos Knight Frank, Lapu-Lapu City has the highest average room price a night ranging from P3,340 to P12,130, owing to its resort-type hotel complexes.

Cebu City’s hotel rates, on the other hand, have an average price from P1,490 to P6,660 a night while Mandaue City’s hotel rates could range from P1,490 to P6,270 a night.

Currently, Cebu is seeing 83 to 85 percent occupancy rates, with branded hotels operating at 90 percent occupancy rate.

“As developers are realizing this gap, they are tying up with foreign brands to add 4,000 in the next four years,” he said.

Based on estimates by Santos Knight, local developers account for about 53 percent of the total rooms expected to join Cebu’s growing hospitality industry in the next five years.

Preferred location

The tourism boom is expected to continuously drive demand for accommodation.

Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City have remained the preferred locations for hotel developments.

More than half of the hotel room supply is situated in Cebu City while Lapu-Lapu City accounted for 30 percent of the supply, according to Santos Knight.

The three-star hotels make up 38 percent of the total room supply followed by four-star hotels at 27 percent.

The existing supply situation and foreseen demand in Metro Cebu presented opportunities for hotel developers to add more rooms to cater to various types of tourists visiting Cebu.