Tour guides undergo training as City sets tourism campaign

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Tourism Commission (CTTC) is training 16 tour guides as Cebu City prepares for a massive tourism campaign capitalizing Cebu’s rich heritage, coastal and mountain resources.

CCTC chairperson Jocelyn Pesquera announced in an interview that these 16 tour guides, with job orders from Cebu City government, will be trained in handling tourists as they explore the different heritage, coastal and mountain sites in Cebu. These tour guides have lost jobs during the course of the quarantine and until today while tourism is still at its lowest performance.

According to Pesquera, the CCTC, in partnership with the private sector prime movers, are now identifying areas that have great potential to attract visitors especially locals to help revive the tourism industry.

Starting next year, the Cebu City government will roll out massive tourism campaigns, such as the planned “Highland Blooms” and eco-tourism, showcasing Cebu’s mountain resorts, waterfalls, and caves, among others.

From mountains, Cebu will also develop attractive coastal tours. These tour guides will curate the different attractions providing visitors interesting trivia and educational backgrounds about each site.

Cebu City, Pesquera said has long stretch of coastline and need to be enhanced and promoted well.

Moreover, the city will also highlight its heritage, identifying areas that have the traces of Spanish, American and Japanese colonies in Cebu. Stories behind these tours will be supported by facts and histories, Pesquera added.