Tour packages ‘bane’ for resorts

CEBU, Philippines — While tour packages offering predetermined destinations and accommodations at reasonable prices are a hit for budget travelers, they may also be a reason why tourism on the countryside is not achieving full potential, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said.

This is why the Cebu provincial government will push for what it calls “quality tourism.” Its primary aim? To let tourists adequately experience what Cebu’s tourist spots could offer.

A case in point is Oslob, home of the prized whale sharks.

Garcia said that the number of tourists who opt to stay for a night or two at Oslob resorts have dwindled owing to the “packages” offered by tour operators that often just involve staying in the town only for the day.

“Travel operators here apparently resort to packages, so when the tourists visit a place, they are not made to stay there. Instead, they are brought back to the city or elsewhere where there are other resorts or spots,” Garcia said in Cebuano.

The governor said she wants the local resorts in Oslob to “level up” by focusing on quality, not quantity.

This, according to her, is the kind of tourism that will also conserve the environment in the tourist destination.

“Let’s not go for one hundred backpackers who would each spend a dollar – that’s a hundred dollars a day, and they leave behind 100 backpackers’ worth of trash,” Garcia said. “Instead, we should go for one tourist who is willing to spend a hundred dollars a day but leaves behind minimal garbage.”

Garcia said she already has a strategy in better promoting the resorts of Oslob locally and internationally. But she did not divulge her plans as she is set to meet with town stakeholders three weeks from now to discuss how these plans can be executed.

Although the governor sees this as a challenge, she also believes this is an opportunity to “level up and to come up with more creative strategies in attracting tourists and making them stay to help the economy of Oslob”.

She earlier said she will review the “carrying capacity” policy being implemented in the whale shark watching area in Barangay Tan-awan, Oslob.

This includes checking the existing fees and the sharing of profits among stakeholders involved.

Garcia has asked the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) to make an inventory of all the resorts in the town and submit the same in the next meeting.  JMD (FREEMAN)