Cebu named best honeymoon site

Cebu was named “Best Honeymoon Destination” at the awards night of the World Trade Fair 2010 in Shanghai, China.

The competition was decided by a public vote and a strict evaluation process undertaken by professional jurors from the Shanghai Tourism Municipal Administration, VNU Exhibitions Asia and Shanghai International Conference Management Organization.

The World Trade Fair brought hundreds of participating countries and organizations all over the globe. In attendance in this year’s expo at the Shanghai Exhibition Center were about 500 tourism players.

At present, Cebu enjoys a steady influx of travelers, with top markets including Korea getting close to 30 percent of the market share, Japan with almost a quarter; and United States and China getting almost the same.

Last year’s World Trade Fair, held also in Shanghai, had also been highly memorable and optimistic as the Philippines clinched the “Most Popular Destination in Asia” award, the highest recognition given during the event.

While total China outbound travel grew only by 4 percent in 2009, outbound travel from Eastern China to the Philippines has been growing at an average rate of 40 percent in terms of visa issuances since the opening of the new Philippine Tourism Office in 2007.

In 2004 there were only some 32,000 Chinese tourists in the Philippines. By 2009 the number is set to surpass 200,000.

In Central Visayas Chinese arrivals more than doubled for the first 11 months in 2009 compared to same period in 2008. As of November last year, mainland China is the fourth-biggest market of the region, hitting more than 56,000 arrivals, while Hong Kong is near to breaking the 30,000 mark. (Business Mirror)