Following the 12^th ASEAN Summit held last January, the local government of Cebu and members of the business sector were able to pin down possible areas for improvement in the city's capacity to accommodate huge arrivals of foreign and local visitors.

The summit, which has since become a litmus test for Cebu tourism, contributed substantially to the 20 percent increase of Cebu visitors recorded for the first half of the year. It cast a spotlight on Cebu. And with visitor arrivals seen to rise in the coming months, the major stakeholders of Cebu tourism set their eyes on streamlining the operations of vital tourism services.

Cebu Midtown Hotel, which positions itself alongside four-star, business-class hotels, vows to give a comfortable and privileged stay to Cebu visitors, be they here for business or vacation. Towering over the Fuente Osmena, the Cebu Midtown Hotel boasts of a strategic location for Guests of diverse interests. This hotel in Cebu caters both to travelers and businessmen alike, with facilities and services that blend the ethos of business and relaxation.

Among the Cebu Midtown Hotel attractions are the chic and exclusive poolside, bars, and restaurants in its hotel in Cebu. It likewise has a Grand Ballroom that sits up to 800 people. Hotel accommodations and services are similarly set in a grand scale, with the in-house sauna and massage amenities, tour guide availability, and hotel-to-airport transportation service.

On the accessibility end of the Cebu tourism industry, the stakeholders identified the limited access of target visitors to direct flights to Cebu as one of the chinks in Cebu travel pipeline. There are currently a maximum of five flights a week to Cebu from Japan, a country that has the highest number of tourist arrivals in Cebu.

Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, in a response to the issue raised, told the Cebu stakeholders that the Philippine Airlines will launch this year its Osaka-Cebu flight, in addition to the planned increase on capacity of Cebu Pacific flights to and from other key Asian cities.

Cebu Pacific boosts its capacity by about 20 percent on flights servicing Kuala Lumpur, in anticipation of Malaysia's independence day celebrations that is expected to pour in Guests to the Philippines afterwards.

Labels: Cebu city, Cebu News