CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu provincial government allocated over P400 million for infrastructure, especially for four provincial tertiary hospitals and restrooms, needed to make Cebu more attractive to tourists.
In a speech at the Tourism Congress here Friday morning, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said she believed tourism held the promise of the future.
“Tourism is all-encompassing. As an industry, it transcends the artificial barriers by which we used to compartmentalize our basic concerns—infrastructure, the environment, health and sanitation, peace and order, international relationships, cultural heritage preservation, employment and people empowerment,” Garcia told delegates to the congress, one of the activities for the Cebu Business Month of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Now in its 22nd year, the tourism congress aims to tackle issues such as open skies that have an impact on the tourism industry. This year’s theme is “Tourism Beyond Boundaries”
The governor noted that tourism provides a tremendous multiplier effect, benefiting not only the industry players but also other businesses.
“At the most basic level, you focus on infrastructure, the indispensable system of support for any tourism program,” the governor said.
As a direct support to the industry, Garcia said, she has ordered the bidding of public restrooms throughout the province with a total project cost of P20 million.
Travel agencies and tour guides in Cebu have been clamoring for the construction of public toilets in the countryside.
She also noted the importance of providing ready access to quality medical services to tourists in the countryside.
In an interview, Garcia said the 100-bed hospitals would cost at least P100 million each, P70 million to P80 million for the building and another P30 million to P40 million for the medical equipment.
She said the provincial government would also be spending around P20 million to P25 million each year for the personnel services for each hospital.
The hospitals undergoing construction are located in Carmen, Balamban and Danao City, and plans are being made for another in Bogo City, Garcia said.
The hospital in Carmen town would be operational by July while that of Balamban and Danao City would be completed within the year.
The provincial government has also implemented several infrastructure projects, including solid waste management systems, municipal water systems and road asphalting and concreting of more than 600 kilometers of provincial and barangay roads.
The provincial government has promised to give a tourist bus to each town that could come up with an interesting tourism package featuring unique historical, tourism and cultural experiences in their locality.
Both the local governments and the private sector consider tourism as a priority industry and have come up with various projects to promote the growth of tourist arrivals, which continued to increase over the years.
According to a report of the Mactan Cebu International Airport, local and international arrivals in 2010 went up by 14 percent, from 4,757,173 in 2009 to 5,411,687 in 2010.