[ Manila Bulletin Online ] June 25, 2008
By MALOU M. MOZO
CEBU CITY – Recognizing the dynamism of the tourism community in Cebu, the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies–Philippines Inc. (Naitas), a group of independent travel agencies in the country, is targeting to help attract in 3.5 million tourists to this city in the next 10-15 years.
Naitas chairman emeritus Robert Lim Joseph said the association is optimistic that Cebu, being the tourism gateway of Central Philippines, will be able to achieve this goal becauseprivate and public stakeholders are intensifying promotional efforts in marketing the destination.
However, Joseph said that in achieving this goal, Cebu has to increase its capacity "seven times more" to accommodate the rise in number of tourists.
"If we have 10,000 rooms now, we should have 70,000 by then," he said in a news conference held last Monday.
One of the key factors in marketing Cebu’s tourism potentials, Joseph said is in organizing more tourism-related events, forums, and conventions in the province, inviting big foreign players.
"Through the conventions and trade fairs, the players would also see trade and business opportunities available in Cebu," he said.
Aside from increasing the room capacity in the province, Joseph foresees a need to encourage regular charters to ply the Cebu route, thus, tourism activities in Cebu and nearby provinces should also be increased.
Tomorrow, Naitas is opening the 2nd Philippine International Travel Fair (PITF) at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) that is expected to gather in at least 100 international tourism buyers composed of travel agents and tour operators from Russia, China, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Japan, among others.
In addition, around 140 local travel sellers have signed up for the activity.
Joseph announced the Department of Tourism has sponsored in bringing the buyers to Cebu.
The international travel agents and tour operators will be matched with their local counterparts during the event to discuss the various tourist attractions of the Philippines that can be sold into their respective countries.
By holding – for the second time – the PITF, he said Naitas has recognized the challenges that Cebu’s present and former leaders had faced and undergone, at the start, and during the period that the province had been admirably undergoing the upgrading of its capabilities and other attributes to make it a nice place to go for relaxation, sight-seeing pleasure, scenery admiration, shopping, and sightseeing.
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