Influx of Chinese tourists good for Cebu economy

CEBU, Philippines — Chinese tourists are pumping in money into Cebu's hospitality sector and it means good business for the industry.

Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) president Carlo Suarez said the influx of Chinese visitors in Cebu is "promising".

"The Chinese influx in Cebu is really promising," Suarez told The FREEMAN yesterday.

"China in general is number three top tourist (source) for Cebu and I'm sure next year they can be number two or even one due to the number of direct flights from Cebu," Suarez, general manager of Cebu Grand Hotel, added.

He believes Cebu's accommodation facilities can well cater to both budget and high-spending Chinese travelers.

"We welcome China and they have different China market categories and our accommodations are ready from budget travel to high-end," the HRRAC official said.

"Most of the hotels, resorts and restaurants are enjoying the vast arrival of China tourists as this brings in good business," the hotel executive pointed out.

Cebu, he noted, has new tourist sites to offer to visitors including the growing farm tourism in the province and the famous whale shark watching in Oslob.

GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC), operator of Cebu's main air gateway, had expected an increase in Chinese tourist arrivals as airlines mount more direct flights to China from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA).

“We are mindful of the fact that our traffic growth in Cebu will be driven to a greater extent by our visitors from China. As such we have taken various initiatives to prepare for this growth,” GMCAC president Louie Ferrer had said in August.

Starting last Sept. 1, Philippine Airlines has doubled its Cebu-Beijing operations from serving twice a week until Oct. 27 using an Airbus A321 aircraft.

Last July, local and foreign carriers launched a number of additional flights to China to accommodate Chinese tourists traveling through MCIA.

China Eastern launched its Cebu-Chengdu and Cebu-Nanjing flights on July 2 and July 25, respectively. Both routes are operated thrice weekly.

Cebu Pacific has also started its twice weekly, chartered flights to Beijing on July 16.

Philippine Airlines opened its Nanjing service on July 9 while its subsidiary PAL Express mounted charter flights to Hangzhou on July 6.

Philippines AirAsia’s maiden flight to Shanghai was launched on July 7.

Cebu Pacific is also set to launch a direct flight to Macau, China starting December this year.

For an efficient and seamless travel through Mactan Airport, GMCAC has installed way-finding and informational signage in both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 with Mandarin translations, as well as Hangul and Nihongo translations.  This is to ensure that all airport processes and directions are well understood by Chinese, Korean and Japanese passengers.

Currently, MCIA has 8 partner airlines flying (both commercial and chartered flights) to 10 destinations in mainland China.

In the first half of 2018, it served a total of 5.76 million passengers, as it projects to reach its target of 11.2 million by the end of the year. (FREEMAN)