Cebu has more visitors than Boracay, Davao

Cebu Daily News
First Posted 11:05:00 05/11/2009
Filed Under: Tourism

Cebu has become the country's top tourist destination based on tourist arrivals, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT). The province led 14 other key tourist destinations in the country, including the world famous Boracay Island, in volume of tourist arrivals from January to March 2009. Data from the DOT for the first quarter showed that 422,239 tourists went to Cebu, nearly 3 percent higher than the 410,597 tourists who went to the province during the same period in 2008. Boracay was second with 158,030 arrivals, followed by Davao City (156,468), Camarines Sur (140,220), Zambales (88,718), and Bohol (71,876). The increase reflected the growth in overall tourist arrivals in the country during the period reaching 10.33 percent or a total of 1.3 million from 2008's 1.1 million, the DOT said. Cebu was also the most frequently visited destination by foreign tourists with 184,790 arrivals or drawing nearly
half of the 383,608 foreign tourists that visited the country. It was followed by Boracay (63,903), Zambales (25,252), Camarines Sur (24,976), and Bohol (24,350). Overall, the volume of domestic tourists visiting key destinations grew faster at 13 percent while foreign arrivals
recorded a 4 percent increase in the first quarter. Eduardo Jarque, DOT undersecretary for planning and promotions, credited the growth of tourist volume in the regions to more and cheaper direct flights and better infrastructure including hotels, pensions houses and
ancestral homes opened for tourists. "Manila has become a stop-over for leisure travelers who proceed to the regions like Cebu," Jarque told the Inquirer yesterday Tourism Undersecretary Phineas Alburo gave a similar assessment in an earlier interview.Cebu continues to generate high tourist arrivals because of diverse attractions and more direct flights ensuring
accessibility," Alburo said.Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific Air have several daily flights to and from Cebu. There are also direct flights from Cebu to Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo, Surigao, Davao, Palawan and Cagayan de Oro, and vice versa among others.There are international flights to Bangkok, Thailand; Osaka, Japan; Incheon, Korea; Hong Kong; Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and China.Jarque said expatriates and other tourists prefer to the provinces and beaches for a vacation.Cebu has become a center of the tourism upswing because it combines a rich historical backdrop, modern infrastructure and varied destinations, according to Jarque. But he said tourist arrivals in Boracay Island were also growing with more hotel rooms needed because the hotels there were always fully booked. "Everybody who wants to party wants to go to Boracay," said Jarque. Edwin Trompeta, DOT regional director in Western Visayas, said it would be pointless to compare Cebu, a regional hub for the Visayas and Mindanao, and Boracay, a 1,032-hectare island-resort, because the two were meeting two different tourism needs. "Among island-resorts, Boracay remains the top tourist drawer with tourist arrivals growing by an average of six percent annually for the past decade," Trompeta said. In its report, the DOT said room capacity in key tourist destinations for the first quarter expanded with the opening
of new hotels and resorts, which created more jobs. During the period, 1,231 additional rooms were opened costing P8.016 billion and generating 1,286 jobs. These include the opening of the P3.18-billion Imperial Palace Water Park, Resort and Spa in Cebu, which increased the room supply in the province by four percent to 14,792. The San Remigio Beach Club in northern Cebu also opened new facilities costing P8.5 million during the first quarter. This includes a convention facility for international meetings, conventions and exhibitions. Boracay boosted its room capacity with the opening of the Shangri-la's Boracay Resort and Spa, a high-end 217-room resort on the island. The DOT expects 2,315 more rooms to be operational nationwide by the end of the year requiring an additional 1,946 employees. In an earlier interview, Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano said foreign tourist arrivals in the country grew by an average of 10.6 percent from 2004-2008, considered one of the best performing destinations in the world. Domestic tourism also grew by an average of 18 percent yearly, he said. /INQUIRER