TRAVEL warnings should not be a reason for tourism stakeholders to stop promoting Cebu’s tourism attractions and highlight the province’s safety measures, a local tourism organization said.
The Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association of Cebu (HRRAC) encouraged tourism stakeholders to rise above this challenge and continue promoting Cebu’s image as a safe destination to visit.
“We cannot deny the fact that a travel advisory such as this will dampen the spirits of tourism operators, but I encourage all the industry players to rise above this news and show them that we are still worth a visit,” said HRRAC president Carlo Suarez.
According to Suarez, HRRAC and the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 have agreed to push for more good and relevant news that will highlight improvements and better tourist offerings of Cebu.
“The travel advisory is coming from their intel and it is just a precautionary measure and hopefully not a show-stopper,” said Suarez.
Alice Queblatin, president of Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists (Catos), said the travel warning should serve as a wake-up call that the countryside is now a focus of negative security advisories.
“It is sad because we are now deep in selling and promoting travel to nature destinations and activities that involve communities. We have to give this serious attention and proper action,” said Queblatin.
The British Government on Tuesday issued an updated travel advisory discouraging its nationals against traveling to western and central Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago because of terrorist activity and clashes between the military and insurgent groups.
Except for “essential travel,” British nationals are also discouraged from traveling to southern Cebu, “up to and including the municipalities of Dalaguete and Badian, due to the threat of terrorism.”
“The challenge once again is for us to push for more relevant attraction and safety measures. We need to do collaboration of resources in promoting Cebu as a destination,” the HRRAC official added.
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Antonio Chiu admitted the warning does not bode well for Cebu’s tourism initiatives.
“While we are confident that Cebu is a safe place for tourists, I hope the UK can share the intelligtence information with our police authorities so that it could be validated and neutralized,” he said.
Cebu welcomed 37,247 arrivals from the United Kingdom in 2017, up by 19.01 percent from 31,297 in 2016.
The UK was Cebu’s seventh top source of tourists last year.
Provincial Tourism Officer Joselito “Boboi” Costas said that as far as their office knows, they have not monitored direct threats but they are going to monitor towns identified in the travel advisory.
Erik Monsanto, marketing and communications manager of Bluewater Resorts, said it’s business as usual in the south of Cebu and that the terrorism threat is not an issue exclusive to the Philippines.
“I am in Sumilon right now, and so far, based on what I observed, I don’t think the advisory affected tourist arrivals at all...All I see here in the south of Cebu are people of different nationalities enjoying themselves and having a good time,” said Monsanto. Bluewater Resorts has a property on Sumilon Island.
DOT 7 Director Shalimar Tamano, in past interviews, encouraged all the stakeholders and local government units (LGUs) to focus on maintaining security and safety in the province to sustain high growth arrivals.
“No matter how beautiful the destination is, at the end of the day, tourists look into the safety of the destination,” said Tamano.
He believes that safety and security are foundations of a sustainable and robust tourism sector. Tamano cited the likes of Singapore and Japan as top destinations that have implemented tight security and safety programs, the reason they continue to log high tourist arrivals.