Cebu ranked 4th best island destination in Asia
August 31, 2009In Travel + Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Awards 2009, Cebu is the 4th best island destination in Asia. The awards are based on the magazine’s 14th annual poll conducted among its readers to rate the best hotels, cruises, airlines, outfitters, cities, and islands around the world.
In the Top Islands category, the respondents were asked to rate the islands based on natural attractions, activities/sights, restaurants/food, people, and value. Cebu garnered 79.68 points which is the 4th best in Asia but not enough to be included in the Top (10) Islands Overall category which was topped by Bali with a score of 87.41 points. Ranked # 10 overall is Vancouver island with a score of 83.74 which is a mere 4.06 points ahead of Cebu.
No other Philippine island, city, hotel, or airline was mentioned or made it to the listing in the other categories.
Click to see the top islands in Asia, top islands overall, and the methodology used.
Cebu’s Tourist Arrivals from Jan. - June 2009 Higher than Same Period Last Year
July 19, 2009A total of 2.4 million tourists arrived in Cebu for the period January to June 2009. This is 23% higher than the 1.9 million that arrived for the same period last year. The figures were announced during a board meeting last 15 July of the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA) attended by Gov. Gwen Garcia.
Gov. Garcia said, “In spite of the economic recession, we continue to see a very marked improvement in our tourism arrivals and income.” This she attributed to “projection of a positive image of Cebu, our lucky location in the archipelago (being in the center), and, of course, the vital element which is the peace and order.”
“Cebu in itself is already an attraction. The culture that we have, the heritage and the beaches are an attraction. In my trips abroad, i observed that Cebu is on everybody’s lips,” the Governor added.
New Rent Control Law Signed by PGMA
July 16, 2009Republic Act 9653 or the Rent Control Act of 2009 was signed by President Arroyo last 14 July 2009. The new law imposes a one-year moratorium on housing rental increases upon its effectivity. From the second to the fourth year, the law caps the house rental increase to only seven percent per year. This is 3 percentage point less than the 10 percent allowed in the previous law, RA 9341, which lapsed on Dec. 31, 2008.
The new law covers all residential units in Metro Manila and other highly urbanized cities where monthly rents do not exceed P10,000. The cut-off is P5,000 for residential units in other areas. The law also prohibits lessors, or owners of residential units, from demanding advance rent of more than one month as well as deposits of over two months. It imposes higher penalties for violations, from P25,000 to not more than P50,000 from earlier fines of only P5,000 to not more than P15,000 in the previous law.
In a statement, Vice President Noli De Castro said, “This brings much-needed relief to housing tenants during this time of crisis. The bottomline is to keep families’ monthly expenses for housing low, so that they still have money for other needs.”
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, principal author of the measure in the Senate. said, “Until every Filipino family can afford to buy or build their own homes and until we can assure that our busiest districts are readily accessible by convenient and faster means of transportation even to those who do not live close by or in the rural areas or outside the urban centers, it is imperative that we support those who opted to rent houses for convenience and forced by circumstances, and to stretch the amount of their pay checks.”
This new rent control law would be in effect for four years, or until December 31, 2013, after which the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) would be given the power to regulate the rental of residential units, conduct a review of its implementation, and formulate a transition program to cushion the impact in the event of a regulation-free rental housing market.
Cebu Tourist Arrivals for 2008 Up by 8.5%
June 23, 2009The Department of Tourism (DOT) revealed that in spite of the onset of the global economic crisis last year, Cebu posted an 8.51 percent growth in tourist arrivals. This is remarkable considering that foreign tourist arrivals in the Philippines for 2008 only improved by 1.5 percent. Out of the 3.13 million tourists that visited the country last year, close to 650,000 visited Cebu which is more than 20 percent of the total arrivals.
Although Korea, Japan, and the US remained the top source markets, arrivals from these countries slightly declined last year. However, this was offset by the bigger number of tourists from Europe and Scandinavian markets.
Cebu’s flourishing tourism industry
June 9, 2009In a recent article in the Manila Bulletin, Dr. Bernardo Villegas noted that Cebu City is defying the negative trends and has managed to grow above the national average of four (4) percent. He pointed out that the reason for this is because Cebu has diversified its economy over the last 5 years. While Cebu continues to be the hub for export-oriented industries like electronics, furnitures, etc. it has also greatly increased its share of the tourism industry, especially the domestic kind, making Cebu a major tourism hub as well.
With last month’s signing of the National Tourism Policy Act of 2009 by President Arroyo, expect Cebu’s tourism to grow very fast as more funds will be generated for the promotion and development of tourism destinations in central Philippines in general and Cebu in particular. This is great news to hotels, inns/pension houses, other short term accommodations, and even houses, apartments, and condos for rent.
And with the active collaboration of the Local Government units and other tourism stakeholders, Cebu’s tourism industry will surely scale new heights.
house for sale or rent in cebu philippines
April 10, 2009If you are looking for a house to rent or buy in cebu, try doing it through centralphil.com. If you are unable to find the house that you need in their listed properties, they can always refer you to several licensed brokers who, individually, have their own listing of houses for sale or rent in cebu but who do not have their own websites. In effect, you will have access to a greater inventory of real estate properties in Cebu Philippines giving you more properties to choose from.
