CEBU CITY—Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said his administration would continue to work toward community-based sustainable tourism, emphasizing that tourism remains a very big and important industry in the province.
“We want our communities to take pride in what is local, authentic and homegrown,” Davide said, adding that community-based tourism will help the province achieve its goal of sustained and inclusive economic growth in the countryside.
Davide said Cebu continues to be the “Tourism Gateway” for Central Visayas and Southern Philippines, attracting approximately 35 percent of the country’s total foreign visitors.
He also cited initial data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, which showed Cebu welcomed close to 1.5 million visitors between January and April 2017, up 4.16 percent from the 1.43 million visitors during the same four-month period last year.
The increase in Cebu’s tourism numbers came as tourist arrivals in the entire Central Visayas dipped by 3.02 percent in the first four months of the year due to travel advisories and security threats earlier this year.
Travel + Leisure Magazine also named Cebu as the sixth best island in the world for 2016. Bojo River in Aloguinsan town was included in the list of the world’s top 100 sustainable-tourism destinations by Green Destination, an online global partnership of five big names in sustainable tourism.
Aloguinsan’s Bojo River now ranks alongside the famous sustainable global destinations, such as the Niagara Falls in Canada, Cape Town in South Africa and Jackstone Hole and Yellowstone in the US.
Conde Nast Traveler, a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine, also named Cebu as the fifth best island in the world.
“These are but a confirmation that Cebu, internationally, has truly become a favorite travel destination,” Davide said.