Cagayan de Oro’s largest hotel is staggering from a series of cancellations brought about by adverse travel advisories issued by diplomatic embassies based in Manila.
In a media meeting held at the hotel 08 September, Jerome dela Fuente, hotel general manager of Limketkai Luxe Hotel, admitted business has slowed to a trickle following the publication of adverse travel advisories arising from the Davao bombing last week and the president’s declaration placing the country under a “state of lawlessness”.
Limketkai Luxe GM Jerome de la Fuente
“For the first eight months of the year we were averaging an occupancy rate of 68 percent with an average room rate of PhP 3, 688,” dela Fuente said. “However, just this week we lost about PhP 2.2 million in room business, and another PhP 4.2 million more from cancelled functions.”
The hotel executive said their total losses from all hotel departments runs into the high seven figures, primarily as a result from cancellations arising from adverse travel advisories from embassies based in Manila advising their respective nationals to avoid traveling to Mindanao. The losses are also especially alarming considering how September is the start of the peak season where hotels are fully booked and rooms cost a premium.
CDO 2016 Categories Comparative Arrivals 1st Quarter
Dela Fuente disclosed the hotel was already starting to pick up during August when average room sales hit PhP 4,300 but in only one week in September following the Davao bombing their business is instantly down by 30 percent.
“We are appealing to these embassies to please consider the effect of their blanket advisories covering the entire Mindanao since it also affects areas which are far from Davao where the bombing took place last week,” he stressed.
“When I make presentations to big companies in Manila to hold their conferences here, they always bring up the 2013 bombing of Limketkai Center, but I tell them if we were able to secure all our presidentiables during the just concluded presidential polls, there is no reason why we cannot secure them as well,” Dela Fuente noted.
CDO Tourism Behavior Year-on-Year (2012-16)
National conferences by the Philippine College of Surgeons, of Anesthesiology, Ophthalmology, and OP are already booked for the first semester of the year with the biggest upcoming being the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP) national conference in April where some 5,000 delegates are expected.
In fact, according to figures collated by the City Tourism Office, the number of tourist arrivals in Cagayan de Oro had already shown a significant uptick as early as the first quarter of the year.
“We are happy to report that, as far the domestic market reaction is, March registered the highest arrival for this quarter, in comparison the last year’s performance, this definitely feels better, showing a positive trend for this year’s tourism market behavior,” said Dennis Bryan S. Villarin, primary officer for the CTO’s Tourism Data and Market Behavior Analysis.
CDO Monthly Total Guest Arrival Comparison 2015-2016 1st Quarter
For the first quarter, Oro hotels showed a monthly efficiency of 52.61% (out of 102), with a total of 109,360 rooms occupied out of 3,386 room available resulting to 179,162 guest nights. Average hotel occupancy rates was 35 percent with an average length of stay of 0.96 days.
Besides the city’s famed white water rafting and the satellite destinations of Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon and the famed beaches and natural attractions of nearby Camiguin, dela Fuente said upcoming attractions such as the Seven Seas Water Park in nearby Opol, and the opening of SM’s Premier CDO2 Mall next year are also positive factors which can further spur the growth of domestic tourism in the region.
-INDNCJ-