Tourism masterplan to Cebu up for review

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu private sector, together with the Research, Education and Institutional Development (REID), will start to re-study Cebu’s tourism masterplan to update and boost the tourism advantage of the province.

To be spearheaded by the Cebu Business Club (CBC), all business chambers in Cebu are expected to come together in this initiative, of which result of the revised Cebu Tourism master-plan is targeted to complete by February of March 2012.

In an interview with CBC president Gordon Alan “Dondi” Joseph over the weekend, he said that aside from the chambers, the group will also invite other stakeholder organizations such as the Hotel Resort, Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), among others.

Although, the study still has to be started, Joseph said Cebu needs to re-visit its immediate needs in order to sustain its tourism advantage, and one of the pressing issues in the dire concern of infrastructure, accreditation process, creating strong and real culture of tourism, effective marketing and branding for Cebu, and airport expansion (not transfer).

REID is a policy research advocacy group based in Pasig City. It earlier selected Cebu as on of the six provinces where it will implement its Partnership for Better Infrastructure (PBI) campaign, through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the CBC.

REID Foundation will provide technical assistance through a series of workshops on the national and regional economy, national budget, and procurement, among others. These activities are supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through The Asia Foundation (TAF).

Convinced of Cebu’s need for more and better infrastructure, several business chambers and civil society organizations partnered with CBC to support the PBI.

Joseph said the submission of the revised Cebu Tourism Masterplan to concerned goverment agencies, particularly the Department of Tourism (DOT) is an important and vital action to be done by Cebu, while it has to work hard in sustaining its jewel in tourism sector.

Despite that fact that Cebu was able to sustain its tourism sector amid he weakening of the global economy, and other problems, it has to be given utmost attention, and support from the government.

   He said tourism is expected to cushion Cebu from being affected by the economic slump especially in the United States and Europe, but it has to improve its tourism product to strengthen the momentum.

With the unpredictatble economic future of Europe, and that is expected to affect Cebu “economically”, Joseph said “I feel more than ever that we should re-visit our potential in Cebu.”

And that Cebu’s strong wealth, lies only in few industries such as tourism, and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), while exports is still finding its place again, and still has to wait for the recovery of the US market.

In 2012, he said Cebu should double its effort to maximize its tourism potential, and that the recommendation that will be submitted to the government, should be pushed seriously by the private sector, in order to pressure the government for implementation and support of “effective” programs and projects that geared towards strengthening the potential of tourism in Cebu.

He said the group will also tap the Local Government Units (LGUs) for support in the review of Cebu Tourism Masterplan, so that all segments in the society could partipate in this initiative.

He said also mentioned a possible creation of “Tourists Village” in Cebu, that will also be installed in the barangay level to push tourism entreprenuership among residents, and help tourists to identify a one-stop-shop area in each destination, where they can shop their souvenir needs. (FREEMAN)