Cebu airport notes surge in Chinese tourists in Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY, March 8  -- More Chinese tourists visited central Philippines last year and the number is expected to rise significantly in 2018, an official of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) has said. 

MCIA recorded about 250,000 Chinese visitors in 2017, more than double the 100,000 tourists who arrived in Cebu from mainland China in 2016.

The group had a 13-percent share among MCIA’s foreign arrivals.

“Two years ago, we did not have Chinese visitors. When the relationship between two countries got warmer, they started to come in 2016. We need to make more noise because only a few Chinese are aware about Cebu and the rest of the Visayas,” said Aines Librodo, airline marketing and tourism development head of GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., MCIA’s operator.

MCIA officials and representatives of airline companies were in this city Wednesday for a sales mission.

The event aims to update participants on the latest infrastructure improvements and promote air connections via Cebu.

Making Cebu and other parts of the Visayas a destination of choice by Chinese nationals is a result of MCIA’s marketing in mainland China where they met with local tourism and airline officials, and tour operators.

The airport’s management also produced a tourism promotion video in Chinese language with Chinese talents and maintains a WeChat account, the most popular social media platform in China.

“They really appreciate all our marketing initiatives in Chinese language to deliver the message of invitation. We told them about the nice destinations and the experiences are really diverse, such as nature, adventure, history, shopping, food, and many more. Most of them really want the beach and a little bit of adventure,” Librodo told reporters.

For 2018, the official is optimistic that they would be able to attract 350,000 to 400,000 visitors from mainland China. Guests stay in central Philippines for four days and four nights.

“There are so many reasons to grow the Chinese market. I’m quite confident, that three to four years from (now), more Chinese will visit Cebu than Japanese. We welcome all visitors from abroad. They’re not just visiting Cebu, but they go to other parts of Visayas,” Librodo added.

In 2017, most foreign visitors in Cebu were Koreans and Japanese, with a share of 43 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

The Department of Tourism is eyeing to welcome at least 6.5 million Chinese tourists under the National Tourism Development Plan for ‎2017-2022. (SQM/PNA)