EDITORIAL - It’s about time

Some tourists come here for the canyoneering, rafting, and caving adventures being offered, but to try these unique experiences they go to the different towns of the Cebu Province, not to Cebu City.

However, that might be about to change.

According to Cebu City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, the city will soon be promoting its own waterfalls, caves, water rafting activities, mountain resorts, flower farms, and overlooking parks soon.

They have not named the barangays with these attractions yet, but this is definitely the plan.

“First time nga duna tay canyoneering ug water rafting dinhi sa city,” Pesquera is quoted as saying in a report in this newspaper.

We couldn’t agree more. It’s about time we promote the other areas of Cebu City to tourists.

The Cebu City most of us know is just the urban and low-lying areas, but that is only part of it. Yes, we know about the area near the sea, the downtown and the uptown, the spots with most skyscrapers and modern attractions like malls and parks. But that is only part of it, a small part, in fact.

Cebu City actually encompasses many areas that are not developed. These are areas that many tourists, even its own residents, don’t even see. And tucked away out there in the mountain barangays and hinterland areas are hidden waterfalls, lakes, caves, and rivers known only to those who live near them and play around them.

With this agreement we would also like to caution the city government to make sure everything is in place when time comes to promote certain attractions. We know too well what happens to an area that has become over-commercialized and mismanaged. Sadly, we see this happening to many local and national attractions.

With that being said, that it’s about time we promoted the “other side” of Cebu City, we also like to add that everything should come in its own time. And this is because there is still a global pandemic going and we should not rush into this.

Yes, we should promote Cebu’s other attractions, but let us do it wisely and measuredly.