High room rates, booking issues hurt Cebu tourism

CEBU, Philippines - While it’s easy to sell Cebu due to its prominence in the world market, the province however, lags behind other tourism destinations in terms of accommodation readiness.

Alejandra C. Clemente, former president of the Federation of Tourism Industries in the Philippines, said aside from the relatively high room rates, travel agencies have also lamented on having a hard time getting hotel reservations for their clients in Cebu.

Clemente, who is also the chairman of Rajah Tours Philippines, said that some hotels and resort make it appear that they are fully-booked, making it harder for the inbound travel operators to get bookings for Cebu.

"It’s difficult to book for rooms in Cebu, especially the resorts, and it’s expensive," said Clemente adding that with this concern, Cebu should look into this problem or it could lose potential customers.

Compared to Thailand and Indonesia, Cebu is still high in terms of room rates. Five star resorts here for instance charge an average of US$200 to US$250 per room, while in Thailand, rooms of the same standard are only pegged at US$100.

Clemente said the fate of Cebu of becoming the top choice destination in the Philippines, should also be supplemented with improved tourism-related offerings.

Permanent cultural shows, that will depict the culture of the Philippines as a whole, is a necessity for Cebu. (FREEMAN)