Philippine Department of Tourism boosts promotional efforts of Cebu to lure more foreigners

The Department of Tourism (DOT) is now beefing up efforts to promote Cebu and the rest of the country to international markets, especially with the entry of big ticket hotels and resorts in the country.

”Even with the entry of new hotels and increase in room accommodations for Cebu, we want these hotels to enjoy high occupancy rates,” said DOT Secretary Joseph Durano.

He said that with the opening of big ticket hotels and resort projects, such as the P3-billion Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and SPA by Philippine BXT Corp. and the SM-developed Sofitel Hotel, Cebu will have 1,000 additional hotel rooms that need to be filled up by 2009.

Durano said the completion of these hotels alone will bring in more international conventions to the province, thus the need for tourism stakeholders to now intensify its marketing approaches for Cebu being the tourism gateway of the Philippines.

With the approved P1.1 billion-tourism budget for 2008, Durano said DOT will now have more capacity to increase its level of presence in new markets like the European countries, which means that promoting the province “will not be a problem.”

But even with the expected increase in high-class room accommodations in the province, Durano said Cebu is not likely to experience an excess of hotel rooms.

Cebu, he said, is just “catching up” with the deficit of hotel rooms in the last few years ever since the province has seen the influx of foreign arrivals.

In order for the province to experience a surplus in room availability, hotel rooms must be growing more than 20 to 30 percent on an annual basis, Durano said.

In the case of Cebu, growth in hotel rooms is less than 20 percent and hotel and resort projects take at least two years to complete, he said.

”The demand for three-to-five-star hotel accommodations, especially in Cebu, is huge. It is the biggest challenge of the tourism industry here. But I am confident that Cebu will be able to address this problem,” Durano said.

Earlier, he said Cebu will need 10,000 rooms to 15,000 rooms before 2012 targeting the leisure market travelers because local hotels are now hitting 80 percent to 85 percent occupancy.

Durano came to Cebu City with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the launching Friday of the coffee table book (Cebu, Pride of Place,” published by the Arts Council of Cebu and SM senior assistance vice president for marketing Marissa Fernan.