CEBU, Philippines - Cebu expects Japanese tourist arrivals to stay flat this year considering that the Japanese economy is still currently in bad shape and the 17 million Japanese travelers are putting off travel plans this year.
Department of Tourism (DOT-7) regional director Patria Aurora “Dawnie” Roa said although Cebu has continually put efforts in recovering the Japanese market, now that its economy is not doing well there is no hope of attracting more Japanese to come even for short trips.
“Because of the bad economy in Japan, a lot are not employed, they are not traveling anymore,” Roa said adding that at this time Japan is not a good market for tourism as before.
Hopefully, Roa said when Japan’s economy recovers, Japanese tourists will be able to prioritize the Philippines as its premier vacation destination.
Meanwhile, Roa said Cebu’s hot and emerging market nowadays are the middle-eastern tourists from Kuwait, Iran, and other countries, mostly who come to Cebu for “educational” purposes.
China is also one of the top growing markets for Cebu, including Russia for leisure travel.
Last year, DOT announced that additional flights will be opened between mainland China and Taiwan to Cebu and Kalibo.
The new flights are in anticipation of the tourist influx in the said destinations, which will last until this year’s latter part to the early months of next year.
“Direct flights to their chosen destinations are a growing demand from the Chinese market which continues to be a stable source despite the crisis,” Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said.
“With help from the Civil Aeronautics Board, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Customs, and our partners in the industry, we have been aggressively pushing for these additional seats, to accommodate the inbound Chinese tourists,” Durano said.
Record showed that about 1.3 billion Chinese (and growing) is now starting to travel. About 50 million to 100 million can now afford to travel outside of their country, and regarded as the one of the highest tourist spenders.
Russians on the other hand, have become an important market for the Philippines, especially for Cebu. In fact, hotel players have even employed Russian staff to cater specifically for this emerging travel market.
The Philippines, being the closest tropical destination in the eastern part of Russia, is expecting a surge of arrivals from this area, given that the distance is only a five-hour flight, Jarque said.
The Russian market been constantly eyed by DOT as an emerging travel market in the Philippines, even described to be among the top high-spenders.
More than average, Russians spend $225 per day. However, Russians are "budget-conscious" when it comes to affording travel packages. They are known to splurge more on hotel accommodation, food and other expenses during vacation.
Source: The Freeman Cebu
