PHILIPPINES - ‘More work to be done’

www.sunstar.com.ph, Tuesday, November 07, 2006

CEBU’S tourism stakeholders must work harder by upgrading services and improving infrastructure to put Cebu on a higher rank in an international travel magazine survey next year, an industry leader said.

The survey result this year should inspire tourism players to promote Cebu with aggressive marketing and focus efforts on the Cebu brand, Mila Espina, head of the tourism committee of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Sun.Star Cebu.

“The news is great and an indicator that Cebu is indeed in the global market already. It implies that Cebu is selling itself as a destination of the Philippines. Cebu makes a great difference,” she said.

The CCCI has been pushing tourism, along with information technology, as the engine of growth of Cebu’s economy.

Cebu was again voted eighth in this year’s top 10 island destinations in the Asia or Indian Ocean region by the Conde Nast’s Traveler Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards for 2006.

Conde Nast Traveller magazine is a premier magazine for people with a passion for travel, adventure, culture and new ideas.

Former governor Lito Osmeña’s marketing strategy of promoting Cebu as an “Island in the Pacific” has proven its effectiveness, said Efren Belarmino, president of Skal International Cebu and general manager of Plantation Bay Resort and Spa.

He said some international tourists until now see Cebu as an island in the Pacific, not an island in the Philippines.

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