CHINESE tourists have been at the forefront of the recent influx of tourists in Cebu.
GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) said it is expecting a rise in the number Chinese tourists during the third quarter, as airlines mount more direct flights to China from the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
Starting Sept. 1, GMCAC said Philippine Airlines (PAL) will increase frequency of their Cebu-Beijing-Cebu route to a four-times-a-week operation.
Last month, local and foreign carriers launched a number of additional flights to China to capture more Chinese tourists.
China Eastern launched its Cebu-Chengdu and Cebu-Nanjing flights last July 2 and July 25, respectively. Both routes fly three times a week. Meanwhile, it also upgraded its Cebu-Shanghai service from an A320 to the wide-body A330 aircraft.
Cebu Pacific also started its twice weekly chartered flights to Beijing last July 16.
PAL, likewise, opened its Nanjing service on July 9 while its subsidiary PAL Express mounted charter flights to Hangzhou on July 6.
Philippines AirAsia’s maiden flight to Shanghai commenced last July 7.
Currently, MCIA has eight partner airlines flying (both commercial and chartered flights) to 10 destinations in mainland China.
“We are mindful of the fact that our traffic growth in Cebu will be driven to a greater extent by our visitors from China. As such, we have taken various initiatives to prepare for this growth,” said GMCAC president Louie Ferrer.
To facilitate an efficient and seamless travel, GMCAC has installed way-finding and informational signs in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 with Mandarin, Hangul and Nihingo translations.
It has also partnered with the Department of Tourism in producing “how-to” videos detailing the airport processes and Cebu destination marketing videos.
GMCAC said the videos are being promoted through MCIA’s social media accounts on WeChat – China’s top messaging and social media app – as well as Facebook.
Moreover, to attract Chinese tourists to Cebu, hotelier Brian Connelly, general manager of Marco Polo Plaza Cebu, said Cebu must establish more duty-free shops or tax-free stores.
Connelly said that besides sight-seeing, Chinese tourists also love to splurge on shopping such as high-end watches, jewelry, bags and other branded items.
“They come in groups. They are also big spenders,” said Connelly.
According to UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, China consolidated its leadership as the biggest spender in travel abroad in 2017, with $258 billion in expenditure. KOC