AS Cebu prepares for more guests with the opening of the expanded airport, tourism insiders are working on packages they hope will encourage guests to stay in the province longer.
Alice Queblatin, president of the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos), pointed out that Cebu’s challenge is to make guests extend their stay beyond three nights.
“Cebu will now become a jump-off point to other parts of the Visayas once Terminal 2 opens. We are now faced with a bigger challenge to upgrade our activities so guests will stay longer here before going to other destinations,” said Queblatin.
Terminal 2 of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is scheduled to open next month. It will serve international flights.
Queblatin said they will push for the promotion of Camotes, Bantayan and Malapascua islands. Other interesting destinations have also emerged in the Carnaza and Kinatarcan islands.
While Cebu’s tourism industry is also promoting other products to become a more attractive destination for tourists, the Catos official said they cannot reinvent Cebu’s image, which is mainly that of a beach destination.
“We will continue to market Cebu as a beach destination because that is the province’s strength. But when guests arrive here and have stayed enough on the beach, we will introduce other equally interesting activities like heritage, eco-tourism, adventure, and culinary tourism,” she said.
“The goal is to make them stay longer here,” she added.
Queblatin said Catos members have prepared two-week tour packages, featuring varied activities.
Among the popular options are canyoneering, whale shark watching in Oslob, countryside tours and other beach-related interests.
Some members are also crafting new activities, especially for the new breed of travelers who are into “experiential tourism.”
“Millennials, for instance, want more. They now place greater importance on personal experiences rather than acquiring material things,” she said, adding that the “fear of missing out” helps drive younger travelers’ choices.
According to the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, a foreign tourist spent at least P4,000 on average last year.
Central Visayas generated P28.5 billion in tourist receipts in 2017. Estimated visitor receipts for February totaled P41.17 billion, the highest recorded for a single month, according to the DOT.
The agency credited the high numbers to higher visitor arrivals and higher average daily expenditures.
Average daily spending during the period stood at P6,575.79 while average tourist stay was at 9.39 nights. Average per capita expenditure is pegged at P61,746.63.
The top spending market was Korea at P10.88 billion followed closely by China at P10.11 billion. Tourism receipts generated from the US and Japan stood at P4.64 billion and P4.19 billion, respectively.
The DOT said the country welcomed 631,831 arrivals in February, up by 3.09 percent from February 2017.
Majority came from Asia, with a 68.30 percent market share.
China posted the highest growth in arrivals at 85.99 percent or 145,536 tourists.
The DOT said that 57.2 percent of the tourists came to the country for pleasure and vacation, followed by business or professional work at 21.2 percent, while 17.9 percent came to the country to visit their friends and families.
Total arrivals during the first two months of year stood at 1.4 million.