Urban gardening eyed as tourism attraction

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City tourism office is planning to showcase urban gardening as part of the city’s “experimental” approach to tourism this year.

Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, who heads the city tourism commission, said that after highland blooms the city government is tapping the potential of the city’s agriculture industry to promote tourism.

“We wanted to showcase this aspect because we already showcased our highland blooms, that way tourists would know and appreciate our local farmers and at the same time gain knowledge about gardening as well,” said Pesquera.

Through this experiment, tourists will get to experience how it feels to plant and harvest crops.

The tourism commission is also looking at relaunching the forest trekking and waterfalls tour that were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pesquera said they are working hard for the resurgence of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism in the city by inviting different international organizations to have their conferences here.

“Cebu is known for our MICE industry prior to the pandemic and I wanted to bring this back because we can accommodate this already…We just have to work hard and collaborate with the private sector as well,” she added.

The return of MICE activities is expected to help improve hotel occupancies this year. Pesquera is optimistic that the tourism industry of the city will fully recover this year. (FREEMAN)