Cebu welcomes more visitors from East Asia

CEBU, Philippines — East Asia will continue to be Cebu’s major source of foreign tourists, with Korea seen to continue to lead the ranking.

Koreans, Chinese and Japanese were the top tourists who visited Cebu last year.

And it’s seen to continue this year, a trend projected by Cebu Pacific, one of the carriers serving daily direct flights from Cebu to South Korea.   Blessie Cruz, director for marketing at the company, believes the Korean market will continue to buoy Cebu’s tourist arrivals.

In a recent interview, she said that Cebu Pacific’s Korea flights usually see more Koreans on board than locals, an indication of robust arrivals from the East Asian nation.

She noted that “there’s already a familiarity” with Cebu as a destination among the Koreans. “So it’s easy for us to entice them to go to the Philippines,” she said.

She noted that English study is the Koreans’ primary reason for visiting the Philippines and that they usually come back for leisure with their friends and families.

“A lot of them come here for English study and they tend to come back through word-of-mouth,” she said.

She also added the good reputation of Cebu as a tourist destination is also one reason that keeps Koreans coming back to the province.

Based on data from the Department of Tourism, Korean tourist arrivals in Central Visayas, where Cebu is a tourist hub, reached 1.3 million in 2018, followed by China at 621,993 and Japan at 464,564.

Arrivals from the United States also reached 232,288 and Taiwan at 84,750. (FREEMAN)