Education helps boost Cebu’s tourist arrivals

CEBU, Philippines — Educational tourism will continue to be a tourist drawer for Cebu, which has evolved into a favorable destination for English studies among Asians such as Koreans and Japanese.

Tourism Undersecretary Benito Bengzon Jr. said education tourism is one of primary drivers for tourist arrivals in the country particularly Cebu.

That's why the tourism agency, he said, is planning to create a roadmap for this sector.

"Soon we will roll out a roadmap for education tourism especially for English as a Second Language (ESL) for which Cebu is now a top notch destinations among different markets," he said.

Korea and Japan remain Cebu's top sources of education tourists.

Similarly, Bengzon cited that Korea, Japan and China – a rising tourist market – are expected to still be the country's bread and butter in terms of tourist arrivals as they account to almost half of the tourist count nationwide.

He said the Department of Tourism is also looking into promising core markets such as the US, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. He also cited opportunity markets such as Spain, France, Turkey and Israel.

It will also focus on other countries in Southeast Asia.

Bengzon added the agency is targeting to increase the number of visiting tourists from ASEAN to about 15-20 percent from the current 10 percent.

Last year, tourist arrivals in Central Visayas hit approximately 6.9 million last year, with Cebu as the region's top travel hub.

The 2017 tourist count surpassed the region's 6.3-million target for the said year and posted a 17.13 percent growth from the 2016 arrivals.

The active movement of the Filipinos travelling to different destinations in the Philippines has benefited Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas region, as domestic travelers dominate the arrival volume of 58.33 percent with 4 million visiting the four provinces in the region, namely Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

The region's top tourism market is still Korea, with the highest number of tourist population, noted to be 895,776 in total; followed by China with a volume of 429,306 and has a highest growth rate among the top ten markets; Japan with 408,566; and USA with 219,796.

Moreover, the DOT-7 also recorded a total of 71,739 visitors coming from Taiwan; Australia came in sixth with 71,724; Germany with 58,432, followed by France with 50,257, and the United Kingdom with 49,484, and finally, Canada comes in tenth with 43,084 registered tourists. (FREEMAN)