PLANS to make Bantayan Island more than a destination known for its white-sand beaches will be among the highlights during the Cebu Business Month’s Tourism Congress next month.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Executive Director May Elizabeth Ybañez said that the chamber has initiated discussions among Bantayan’s tourism stakeholders to develop the island’s other potential tourism attractions.
The CCCI has a chapter that covers the island’s three towns of Bantayan, Sta. Fe, and Madridejos. Bantayan Island, Ybañez pointed out, has other equally interesting tourism jewels just waiting to be discovered.
For instance, the island can also be developed as a pilgrimage and heritage destination.
“There are other refreshing sites to offer to tourists in Bantayan,” said Ybañez.
The CCCI executive director vowed that the tourism committee of the chamber would continually look into the tourism potentials of other towns in the province. She noted that the industry shouldn’t stop developing more tourism products so tourists would continue to keep coming back to Cebu.
“We want tourists to keep coming back and we want them to spend more time here,” she also said.
The Tourism Congress will also discuss key concerns such as safety and security.
At least 579, 178 tourists arrived in the country in February 2017, about 5.4 percent higher than the arrivals in February 2016, the tourism department has reported, citing the latest available figures.
Cebu served as the port of entry for 111,314 or nearly 20 percent of all tourist arrivals in February this year. Most of the arrivals, at 63 percent, were recorded in Manila.
Travel advisories issued last April that mentioned Bohol and Cebu have affected the tourism business in Bohol, although the continued surge in domestic tourism in Bohol has offset losses from foreign markets.
Last May 11, the British Embassy in Manila mentioned southern Cebu in another advisory. It urged its nationals to avoid traveling to southern Cebu, particularly the towns of Badian and Dalaguete, due to alleged threats of kidnapping by terrorists. (KOC)