Vol. XXII, No. 19 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
Thursday, August 21, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
CEBU CITY — The Tourism department will partner with major property developers to launch next month a new campaign to promote tourist sites as investment destinations for vacation homes.
Tourism Secretary Joseph H. Durano told reporters here that this new campaign targets repeat visitors and capitalizes on the current boom in lifestyle real estate developments, especially condominium units by the beach, in the mountains or in urban resort settings.
Dubbed "Live Your Dream" campaign, this will encourage repeat visitors and long-staying tourists to invest in condominium units that would serve as their vacation homes. The developers will showcase their lifestyle development projects in an exhibit on Sept. 15 at the SMX Convention Center.
"We call this ’Live Your Dream’ campaign because tourists who have long wanted to own a piece of tropical paradise could finally realize their dreams. They could not own land in our country, that’s why we’re promoting condo units," Mr. Durano said in a press conference.
Based on exit surveys conducted by the department, six of 10 tourists who visit the Philippines come back for another visit. Nearly nine out of 10 tourists, or 87%, said they were satisfied with their visit here.
This campaign would encourage repeat visitors to stay longer as well as free up hotel rooms and enable the industry to bring in more short-staying tourists, Mr. Durano said.
A tourist stays in the Philippines for an average of eight days. With this campaign, Mr. Durano said tourists who invest in vacation homes can stay longer and while they’re here, they could also avail of medical and other services.
"This would increase the value of stay of repeat visitors. While they’re here, they could have that dental or medical check-up or take that short-term course that they have been wanting to take," he said.
Although some 1,500 rooms will open in Cebu starting the end of this year, Mr. Durano said the island still faces a capacity constraint. The new rooms would come from Microtel in Mactan, the Korean-owned Imperial Hotel also in Mactan and Sofitel near SM in Cebu City. These three hotels are under construction.
If repeat visitors have their vacation homes, they would no longer need to stay in hotels and more tourists could be accommodated, Mr. Durano added.
Cebu currently has about 7,000 rooms. In the first half of this year, direct international arrivals in Cebu reached 200,716, a 13.7% increase from last year. Direct international arrivals refer to foreign tourists who don’t pass through Manila and directly go to Cebu.
Korea remained the top source market, as it provided 40% of total international arrivals. Korean Air, Cebu Pacific and Asiana Airline currently fly to Cebu daily from Incheon.
Other top tourist arrivals in Cebu come from Japan, China, Hong Kong and Europe. — Marites S. Villamor
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