Holy week guests start to fill Cebu hotels, resorts

Hotels and resorts in Cebu are expecting more visitors to stay in their properties for the Holy Week as the four-day holiday a peak season.

“As of today, we are already almost full  in our properties including Bluewater Panglao in Bohol and that does not only mean rooms but also day tours,” said Rhyz Buac, Maribago Bluewater Resort general manager, yesterday.

In their Maribago property, they are expecting about 150 day tourists starting Thursday all the way to Easter Sunday.

“Especially Sunday when we have many activities for the kids. We expect to exceed the target but we will have to put a limit so that we can still provide the same level of service,” said Buac.

Jo Anne Castillo, Crimson Resort and Spa director of sales, also they were also expecting a 90 percent booking in their 290-room property in Mactan.

“Now we are at 70 percent occupancy but we expect full bookings for the Holy Week,” said Castillo.

Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa press relations manager Angela Emphasis  said they were also expecting full bookings for the Holy Week mostly from the local market and also from other provinces in Mindanao.

“Our average now is 81 percent, we were a bit low last week but we expect last minute check-ins based on last year’s experience, which would usually start this Thursday. We see a lot of domestic and locals now,” said Emphasis.

Some city hotels are also experiencing full bookings.

Hans Hauri, area general manager for Philippines of the Marco Polo Plaza Hotels, said last Friday they have already 70 percent confirmed bookings as of Friday which they expect to continue to pick up on Holy Thursday.

Hauri said despite the budget airlines offers of flights in other Asian countries, families here still preferred traveling within the country with Cebu as one of their choice places to visit.

According to Buac, the most popular activities that people do for Holy Weeks includes swimming because it’s summer time which may include road trips to countryside destinations.

“Now we’re seeing a lot of demand for our ‘glamping’ or glamour camping which is always the case every summer,” said Buac.

Buac said that he hopes the government will continue their support for countryside investments in tourism, which is what they see as a good instrument for “inclusive” growth.

“In Cebu alone, there are so many things that one can enjoy in the countryside. When going to Oslob, there are so many things that one can do on the side like watching the beautiful scenes or stopping over at the old churches along the way. These can still further be developed and promoted,” said Buac.

Tourist Arrivals

Last year in April, when Holy Week started in April 1, 2012 and ended on April 7, 2012, there were 157,924 tourists that visited Cebu – 62.75 percent are domestic travellers or 99,098 while foreign tourists only accounted for 36.67 percent or 57,913.

The resort operators said they expect the same trend this year.