THE Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 on Saturday, November 5, said tour activities and bookings remained unaffected amid the travel warnings issued by foreign embassies on southern Cebu.
Although tour operators received “about to cancel” calls from clients, DOT-Central Visayas officer-in-charge Judy Gabato said they were able to assure tourism stakeholders and guests that Cebu remains a safe and secure destination following validations from law enforcement agencies.
“There are no cancellations so far as of today...There were no tour packages that were put on hold. It is business as usual. In fact, there was a group tour yesterday in Kawasan Falls,” said Gabato, at the sidelines of the dialogue between tourism stakeholders, Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine Coast Guard organized by the DOT-Central Visayas on Saturday.
The Cebu Association of Tour Operators and the Hotel, Resort, and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), likewise, confirmed on Saturday that the advisory has not affected tour and hotel bookings.
Assurance
“It is business as usual,” said Julie Najar, president of HRRAC.
Gabato assured tourism players that security agencies have been alerted and are addressing the security matter issued by other countries.
She is confident the travel advisory will soon be lifted.
Cebu’s had already been tested when it hosted Asia Pacific Economic Conference and International Eucharistic Congress, she said.
“We should not be affected by this. Instead, we should continue to promote our island,” Gabato said.
Cebu recently placed fifth in the list of the world’s best islands in the 2016 Reader’s Choice Awards by Conde Nast Travel.
The tourism sector is usually the number one casualty whenever there are threats of peace and order and security in a country.
After the US issued its own security warning over possible kidnapping by terrorist groups in the southern part of the Cebu last Thursday, countries like United Kingdom and Canada followed suit.
Both embassies urged their citizens to avoid going to southern Cebu and to maintain a high level of vigilance at all times.
South Korea, according to Mingsu Kim, a representative of the Korean Travel Agencies Association, said this security warning was already reported in Korean news and that their government has already alerted its citizens about Cebu’s safety.
“Unvalidated info”
“Koreans are very sensitive to safety and security issues,” said Kim, adding that the security warning also worries her, especially since it’s peak season for tourism now and that 2,000 Koreans arrive in Cebu every day.
The AFP and PNP, for their part, maintain that the security warning issued by US is an “unvalidated information.”
Despite this, Major General Raul del Rosario of Central Command (Centcom) said they have heightened their security measures not only in the southern part of Cebu but also in the neighboring provinces of Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, which also attract foreign tourists.
“The goal here is to influence the US to retract the travel advisory,” said del Rosario.
Police Regional Office-Central Visayas Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño said he already directed the PNP chiefs in the neighboring islands to talk to resort owners and resort security managers about the integrated security systems they have put in place and to assure tourists that they are safe (here).
“There is no cause for alarm. There is no need to panic because there is a joint security effort already in place,” said Taliño.
Moreover, del Rosario said they have also alerted their counterparts in northern Mindanao about the possible Abu Sayyaf threat.
Both officials urged tourism players, particularly tour operators, to inform them of any island-hopping activity or any big tourism-related activity so they could monitor and assess whether to deploy more security personnel in the area, on top of existing security measures.
The PNP also urged tourists to like their Facebook page to keep them posted on their advisories. Police hotline numbers are also posted on their social networking site.