Meetings eyed for Cebu

CEBU CITY — After the successful promotion of Cebu as an “Island in the Pacific” some 28 years ago, travel industry executives in Cebu are now mulling the formation of Cebu Visitors & Convention Bureau (CVCB) to promote Cebu as a better meetings and conventions destination in the country.

With a growing list of international airlines flying directly to Mactan International Airport, Cebu should now be promoted as a destination for international meetings and conventions, declared Patrick Gregorio, president of Waterfront Philippines, Inc., owner of Waterfront Hotels & Casinos brand with headquarters in Lahug district of Cebu City.

He said that while holiday travel to Cebu is still far from what it should be, the tourism industry of Cebu should now start thinking about the next promotional move to ensure the future.

Because of the negative image of the country during the early days of martial law, Cebu tourism stakeholders promoted the province as an “Island in the Pacific” without mention of the name Philippines. In that promotion, Cebu was disassociated from the negative image of the country under a dictatorship. The promotion clicked.

Today, that image is still ingrained among Japanese and Chinese tourists though the character and makeup of those markets have dramatically changed.

Gregorio said that a miniature version of the Philippine Convention & Visitors Corporation would be appropriate for the CVCB idea.

He said the CVCB could focus more on bidding of international meetings and conventions while the regional office of the Department of Tourism could continue with its ‘WOW Philippines’ and other generic marketing campaigns.

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There are about 3,000 hotel rooms in Cebu City and another 1,000 rooms among the resorts. That translates to approximately over 1.4 million room nights for meeting and convention delegates. Cebu’s room supply should be adequate for the moment to promote meetings and conventions.

Hotels, like the Waterfront hotels in Lahug and Mactan, Cebu Plaza, Marriott and others, have acceptable meeting facilities and convention halls. With the CVCB, investments for a large convention center with ample space for exhibition would be a viable option for investors later once the bureau has shown that there is serious effort in promoting meetings and conventions in Cebu.

“We can compete with Metro Manila and other cities in the country for international events. Cebu proved this when the Asean Tourism Forum was held in Cebu City with great success in 1998. Delegates didn’t get delayed by traffic jams and didn’t complain about pollution. We have Bohol and Negros for post-event tours. Our biggest advantage is that there are over 15 international flights a week that come in directly from Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka and Seoul and the list is growing,” Gregorio pointed out, adding that these cities are hub airports for flights from Europe and North America.

How soon will the CVCB idea become reality remains to be seen. But Gregorio said there is a core group that is earnestly working on the papers.

“We have the concept agreed on and we are now trying to define membership, which is the critical aspect because it is the base source of funding,” the Waterfront executive pointed out. CVCB planners have drafted the corporate bylaws and copies are now in circulation for further study and refinement.

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This move of Cebu is exciting. We have always advocated in the past and we still do that the tourism sectors of various provinces or cities organize themselves as miniatures of PCVC if they would want to become serious in competing with other destinations in the country. Let’s face it, the DoT and PCVC have their own agenda and one destination might not even be included in the overall scheme of promoting the country’s tourism.

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We have also urged tourism leaders in Puerto Princesa in the past to organize the Puerto Princesa Visitors & Convention Bureau (PPVCB) even if the rooms inventory in this city can hardly accommodate a large national convention of say Rotary or Lions. At the present time, a Puerto visitor’s bureau can focus on attracting holiday visitors until such time that the city’s supply of tourist accommodation increases. This idea should be pursued as something distinct and independent from tourist establishments in northern Palawan because central (where Puerto is) and southern Palawan are two worlds apart. Northern Palawan tourist establishments can form their own bureau. But it looks like the tourism leaders in Puerto are not as sophisticated as their counterparts in Cebu. Or, do they merely prefer the simple association type without really knowing what a professional or lobby group is all about or how to gain more benefits for members?

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Another important function of a localized visitor’s bureau is the collection of visitors arrival statistics based on occupancy data of commercial accommodation. Such source of tourism data is more accurate than the present system of the regional DoT offices. One issue why tourism does not get the proper government support for marketing and promotions money is that the DoT does not have necessary data it needs to interpret the economic impact of tourism in one community. For example, the DoT has limited data on hotel occupancy in the country. It merely confines itself to accredited hotels in Metro Manila. Local visitor’s bureaus would be in a position to work closely with municipal governments to collect such important data to help assess the tourism impact on the local economy and for enticing investments in a community. In the process, local government officials would also be educated on the economic role of tourism in their communities. (Comments to consult@skyinet.net)