Cebu joins ITOP forum

CEBU Province will be formally accepted this month as a member of the Inter-Islands Tourism Policy (ITOP) Forum.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said last Friday that she received a formal invitation from Gov. Woo Keun-Min of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province to attend the forum set on Sept. 28 to Sept. 30.

Four provincial governments of four countries founded the Inter-Islands Tourism Policy Forum in 1977,  a consultative body of regional governments for consulting and supporting common tourism policies.

These are the provincial governments of Bali, Indonesia; Hainan, China; Okinawa, Japan; and Jeju, South Korea.

Its members has since increased to nine including Hawaii, USA; Phuket, Thailand; Zanzibar, Tanzania; Canary Islands, Spain; and Southern Province, Sri Lanka.

The forum’s aim is for the group to explore the world tourism market by bringing together islands that have cultural sympathy and similar tourism structure and policy.

Garcia said that the province had been invited to become a member of the group last year.

“Of course, we readily indicated our interest. It will be our pride to be accepted as a member,” she said.

Once Cebu will be a member, the group will be expected to help develop various common tourism products of the island, which can help grow the island’s economy.

The group could help Cebu’s tourism industry to grow and improve further on being the world’s best in the industry.

Last year, Travel + Leisure magazine released the results of its World’s Best Awards 2010, a listing of the best hotels, airlines, cruises islands and cities all over the world.  Cebu ranked third with a rating of 87.50 points up by 8 points or one level higher from its 2009 rating. /Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus