Cebu braces for tourism slump on A(H1N1) scare

CEBU CITY—Tourism players are reallocating their resources to attract regional and domestic tourists as the continued alarm over the Influenza A(H1N1) virus threatens major markets like the US and Europe.

Tourism Underscretary Phineas Alburo said Cebu and Central Visayas will definitely be affected as governments advise their citizens to hold off travel plans because of the A(H1N1) threat.

“We could still not say by how much we will be affected, but there will be an effect,” Alburo told the BusinessMirror on Tuesday.

“The industry is being hit by three factors: the recession, the virus and the increasing prices of fuel.”

Hotel operators are banking on the domestic market and the upcoming honeymoon season in Korea to pick up the slack in room occupancy, as many American and European tourists will likely cancel their travel plans.

General manager Dean Cid of Microtel Inn and Suites Mactan said his company projects room occupancy to pick up from July to September with thousands of Korean couples on honeymoon arriving in Central Philippines.

He said, however, that the hotel is intensifying its efforts to diversify its market particularly targeting the domestic travelers.

“It would be very difficult if we rely heavily on the Korean market,” Cid said.

To boost domestic tourism, Microtel Mactan launched its lean season package for domestic tourists, slashing off room rates by as much as 60 percent to encourage locals to go on vacation and travel.

Cid said there is a significant number of domestic travelers and families on vacation checking in at Microtel, signifying a domestic tourism market that is starting to pick up despite the global recession.

At present, Microtel has an occupancy rate of 50 percent, or a rate that is considered “slow” even for the lean month of June in terms of Cebu’s robust tourism industry.

Cid said several days in July are already fully booked mostly by Korean groups, and the hopes that the upward swing should continue the rest of the year.

Alburo said promotion efforts by the Department of Tourism (DOT) will continue, targeting short haul tourists from neighboring countries like Korea, Japan, China and even India.

He said while the domestic picture may be challenging, Cebu should continue to post positive growth in 2009. Cebu receives around 50 international flights a week and several chartered flights from key markets.

In 2008, foreign tourist arrivals in central Visayas reached around 1 million. In the first three months of the year, foreign arrivals hit close to 225,000 or a four-percent growth from the same period last year.

Cebu is also set to host next week the Philippine International Tourism Fair with more than 300 foreign buyers coming over to meet local players in the tourism industry.

Alburo said India and the Middle East are two key markets the Philippines intends to tap.

The last time the Philippines experienced a challenging time for the tourism industry was during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare of 2003.

“The SARS scare, however, was limited to China and other Asian countries,” Alburo said.

Now, the countries most affected by the A(H1N1) “are the US and Europe—our biggest markets,” Alburo emphasized.

Source: Willy Rodolfo III Business Mirror