AFTER two years since the city was placed on lockdown due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, Cebu City is now finally allowing local and foreign tourists to visit their tourism areas, especially during the Holy Week.
This after the Cebu City Tourism Commission (CCTC) launched its Highland Pilgrimage Tour, showcasing the city's religious sites, on Thursday, April 7, 2022,
Some of the religious sites that tourists can visit during the tour are the Chapel of the Holy Relics-Tabor Hills and the Church of Mary Co-Redemptrix in Barangay San Jose; Our Lady of Manaoag Rosary Sanctuary in Barangay Guba, and the Calvary Mountain Station of the Cross in Barangay Sirao.
Jocelyn Briones-Avila, Cebu City Tourism Office executive director, said the tour aims to promote the city's religious and pilgrimage sites but also the city's mountain barangays.
Avila said tourists who want to avail of the tour will only be required to pay fees for the transportation, for the tour guides and for food expenses as admission to the religious sites are for free.
Avila said the tour is not available exclusively for the Holy Week, but also for the entire year.
Avila, told reporters that the Pilgrimage Tour allows tourists to visit Cebu mountain sites and not only churches during the tour's dry run.
Briones-Avila said they are expecting local tourists to avail of the tour especially that the city's alert level is now less stringent.
Cebu City Councilor Jocelyn "Joy" G. Pesquera, who is also CCTC's chairperson, said while the tour is targeted to Catholics who want to do their Holy Week observance, it is also open to non-Catholics who also want to appreciate the city's highland scenery.
"The tour aims to show that we also have a lot of beautiful churches and monasteries in the highland areas of Cebu that both believers and non-believers can visit," Pesquera added in Cebuano. Interested tourists can coordinate with the Cebu Association of Tour Operators (CATO), affiliated travel agents or the Cebu City Tourism Office if they want toavail of the tour. (HIC)