CEBU’S tourism recovery is gaining momentum, with improving accommodation performance and rising air passenger traffic pointing to resilient travel demand despite global uncertainties and disruptions earlier this year.
Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 OIC-Director Gelena Dimpas said tourism stakeholders are seeing more positive indicators in the second quarter, supporting expectations of continued growth in the months ahead.
“For the second quarter, we are moving toward positive reports coming from accommodation establishments because that’s how we gauge our arrivals,” Dimpas said during Cebu Pacific’s Quarterly Business Review on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026.
She said the region maintained positive growth in the first quarter despite challenges, including the energy crisis that affected businesses and consumers.
In Cebu Province, more Filipino travelers helped Cebu’s tourism industry grow despite a drop in foreign visitors.
The province recorded at least 496,462 guest arrivals during the first quarter of 2026, up 1.17 percent than the arrivals recorded in same quarter in 2025.
The outlook is reinforced by the performance of low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, which said passenger traffic through its Cebu hub grew faster than its overall network in the first half of 2026.
Airline remains optimistic
Cebu Pacific chief marketing and customer experience officer Candice Iyog said the airline remains optimistic about the rest of the year, citing resilient travel demand and Cebu’s expanding role as a tourism and aviation hub.
“We looked at the second quarter as a temporary external disruption. It does not change our long-term growth trajectory and our belief in the potential of the Philippines,” Iyog said.
The budget airline flew 14 million passengers in the first half, up four percent from a year earlier. Passenger traffic through Cebu, however, grew nine percent, more than twice the airline’s system-wide growth.
It also offered 4.2 million seats to and from Cebu during the period, up 18 percent year on year, while flights increased seven percent to 26,500.
“System-wide, passenger growth was four percent, but Cebu is growing at a faster rate. Cebu is an important hub for Cebu Pacific and we want to continue expanding our operations here,” Iyog said.
The airline plans to further expand its Cebu network in the coming months, including the resumption of Cebu-Ho Chi Minh flights three times weekly beginning Oct. 27 and an increase in Cebu-Bangkok services to daily flights starting Oct. 26.
It will also launch direct Cebu-Nagoya flights on Nov. 19 and Cebu-Shanghai flights on Nov. 17.
By yearend, Cebu Pacific expects its seat capacity from Cebu to increase 12 percent from 2025, expanding its network to 33 direct routes — 24 domestic and nine international.
Iyog said Cebu’s growth prospects are supported by investments from both the public and private sectors.
“The stars are aligning for Cebu. It’s not just the private sector, but also the local government units and investments that are helping unlock Cebu’s full potential,” she said.
She added that the airline’s strategy is not simply to add routes but to ensure that new services become sustainable through continued growth in demand.
DOT campaign
To further stimulate travel demand, the DOT is also promoting its “Discover More, Travel More” campaign, which offers special rates, discounted packages and other promotions from participating tourism enterprises across the country.
Dimpas urged more Cebu-based tourism businesses to participate, saying the campaign provides them with an opportunity to reach travelers while gaining exposure through the DOT’s international promotional network.
The DOT has 37 foreign tourism attaché and market representative offices that promote Philippine destinations and tourism products overseas.
“When you are found here, that’s automatically representing your brands, our homegrown brands, to the rest of the world,” Dimpas said.
Dimpas said sustaining the tourism recovery will require continued cooperation between government and private-sector stakeholders.
“The collective effort — not just by the sectors, but both government and private sectors — is really adding up and doing a lot,” she said.
For Cebu, the combination of stronger air connectivity, expanding tourism investments and improving accommodation performance is expected to support visitor growth and reinforce the province’s position as a major gateway for tourism in the Visayas. / KOC