Holiday crowds come for whale sharks; tour groups buck rate hike
Oslob town is bracing for more visitors coming to the seaside barangay of Tan-awan to “interact” with whale sharks during the long Holy Week holiday.
At least 20 additional job-order workers were hired by the municipal government to collect visitor fees and do security task starting today, said Mayor Ronald Guaren.
There will be no “whale shark watching” on Good Friday, a traditional solemn observance for Catholics to mark the death of a crucified Jesus Christ, he said.
But local fishermen who serve as boat guides will be ready to bring guests out on the water on Holy Thursday, Black Saturday and Easter Sunday following the usual 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. schedule set by a municipal ordinance.
Mayor Guaren told Cebu Daily News he asked for extra men from the Cebu Provincial Police Office to secure the area because the town expects a bigger crowd than the usual 700 to 800 visitors they get on weekends.
Visitor fees are set to go up a week later on April 15.
The increase will be three to five times more for foreign guests who get in the water to snorkel or dive with the whale sharks. Local visitors have to pay P200 to P300 more for underwater viewing.
The mayor said the town wants to limit this type of exposure as a way to protect the giant fish, which is considered an endangered or vulnerable species. He said officials considered banning diving altogether but were persuaded to just increase the fees.
Some Cebu tour operators and industry officials warned that this would just turn away travelers and cause confusion.
“I don’t understand their move to increase rates to discourage more people from availing of the service. I don’t think that’s effective,” said Alice Queblatin, Tourism Congress vice president for the travel and tour sector in the Visayas.
She said if the purpose is to protect the whale sharks, increasing rates was not the right approach.
“I think the way is really education. More awareness and educating people about whale sharks and why it’s wrong to touch them,” she said in an interview.
Phineas Alburo, former tourism undersecretary, said it was too early to think of hiking rates that had just been set three months ago.
“If they want to control the number of people to protect the whale sharks, they can do it some other way. Increasing rates is not a good reason,” he said.
Dive shop operator Gary Cases, who earlier complained that new rates of P1,000 for snorkeling and P1,500 for diving with the whale sharks were even higher than prices in established dive spots of Malapascua and Mactan islands in Cebu, and Anilao in Batangas and the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan, said it was unfair to impose higher fees for foreign guests.
His suggestion: “Limit the number of bookings. They should organize the whale shark tours by booking instead of increasing rates.”
Under an amended ordinance approved by the Oslob municipal council, the “regular” rates for non-Oslob residents would be P500 for whale watching, P1,000 for snorkeling and P1,500 for diving starting April 15.
A “discount,” however, will be applied to Filipinos, who will be charged P300 for whale watching (status quo), P500 for snorkeling and P600 for diving.
For an Oslob resident, the fee is a minimal P30 for an adult, and half that amount for children below 12 years old.
At present, under the original municipal ordinance approved in January 2012, it costs P300 per person for a close encounter with whale sharks, locally called tuki or butanding, which approach paddle boats to be hand-fed krill by local fishermen.
Oslob was a quiet fishing town until whale shark tourism brought in a steadily growing volume of visitors starting the last quarter of 2011. The tourists range from seasoned divers to thrill-seeking foreigners on holiday and local families.
“They still don’t even have the facilities that will make the visitor’s total experience there comfortable,” said former DOT regional director Patria Aurora Roa.
“They don’t have clean comfort rooms. Everything is still disorganized so a rate increase is just not the way to go,” she told CDN.
Jenny Franco of Travelvision, Cebu chapter president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, said the split rates for domestic and foreign tourists would create more confusion.
“I am not in favor of the increase, more so because they don’t have good facilities and they are not well organized. They should charge the same rate for Filipinos and foreigners. It will create a big problem and confusion. What if the wife or spouse has to pay more? What about children with dual citizenship but with foreign-sounding names? How about the foreigners who are local residents?” said Franco.
Before the Oslob town council’s decision to hike rates on April 15, there were only two rates, one for Oslob residents and another for non-Oslob guests.
The adjustment that starts next week applies a three-tier rate system—“regular” fees, a lower fee for “local” residents and a rate for Oslob residents.
Jay Aldeguer of Islands Souvenirs said charging higher fees must relate to better service.
“The increase is acceptable if the amenities and service is improved. The price increase will not affect the interest since the whale shark attraction is such a spectacle,” he said.
“I just hope that a sizeable amount of the fees goes to efforts to protect and preserve the creatures. Lastly, I don’t recommend a two-tier pricing for locals and foreigners. This may just leave a bad taste,” he said.
