New Year to boost tourist arrivals from China to Cebu
January 26, 2012 11:23 pm
CEBU CITY, Jan. 26 -– More than 1,000 Chinese tourists are expected to arrive in Cebu this week to join the Chinese New Year festivities in the city and province.
They started arriving last Tuesday via a chartered Cathay Pacific flight.
Alan Dino, senior vice president of Dong Fang Philippines Leisure Corp., said the tourists will arrive via three chartered Cathay Pacific flights and the twice-weekly chartered Air Philippines Express flights.
The leisure company, whose offices are based in Mandaue City and Guangzhou, China, has been bringing Chinese tourists in Cebu for the past six years.
One of the activities prepared for the tourists is the Xin Hian Chinese Festival on Saturday at the Ayala Center Cebu.
The day-long activity will feature a food fest organized by Cebu’s major hotels and resorts, and a lion dance.
The tourists will also engage in sightseeing, shopping an beach activities.
”We are helping the tourist sector by bringing Chinese tourists in the country,” said Dino, who welcomed the guests at the Mactan Cebu International Airport last Tuesday.
The tourists will be staying in major hotels and resorts such as the Marco Polo Plaza, Hotel Elizabeth, Radisson Blue Hotel, Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa, Imperial Palace Waterpark and Spa, and the Movenpick Resort and Spa in the next four to five days.
The tourists will also visit places outside Cebu such as Bohol, Palawan, Boracay, Davao and Manila.
With Chinese tourists coming again to the Philippines, Dino said “we are slowly recovering” from the effects of the hostage-taking incident in Manila in August 2010.
”That was the biggest crash. After that incident, the following flight, we lost 30 percent. The next flight, we lost another 50 percent. On the third flight, we were only able to bring 30 percent of the total number of tourists, so I said we have to stop and reassess,” he said.
Dino noted that Hong Kong has yet to lift its black advisory against the Philippines.
”We have to do something about it,” he said.
“Though we are slowly recovering, tourism players must do something more aggressive and create more activities for the Chinese tourists,” Dino said.
Dino said the leisure company has been avidly promoting Cebu in Hong Kong and other locations in mainland China.
”We are optimistic that we will be able to deliver what we promised to our guests,” he said. (PNA) DCT/LAP/EB/re
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