“This is our grand opportunity to send a message to the world that Cebu is open. Cebu is ready. The Cebuanos, (who) continue to be as resilient as they can be, are ready to welcome the world with open arms and with no less than world class hospitality,” said Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.
The Philippines is hosting the ATF for the second time, having first done so in 2016.
Preparations
The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism, is installing welcome arches, banners, billboards and related booths at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, hotels hosting the delegates, and the Mactan Expo Center, the venue for the Asean Travel Exchange (Travex).
The cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, and Mandaue have also been repairing roads, repainting key areas, and declogging drainage systems, particularly along routes that delegations will use.
Police have been conducting simulation exercises and dry runs to assess routes leading to the venues
Restoration works are also being done in heritage sites in Cebu and Lapu-Lapu cities.
At least 126 participants have signed up for ‘Paglantaw,’ a heritage tour of Old Cebu that includes visits to the Cebu Museum, Casa Gorordo, and other sites.
The Lapu-Lapu tour, dubbed “Bagani,” has also drawn 60 confirmed participants.
Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism has trained more than 10,000 tourism frontliners across various regions in the Philippines.
In Cebu, the DOT-7 has trained tourism frontliners from transport operators to hospitality personnel.
Frasco was at the Shangri-La Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City on Jan. 14 for a media briefing on ATF preparations.
Multiplier effect
Frasco told reporters that Cebu stands to benefit from hosting the ATF, as its multiplier effect is “immense” and would help reinvigorate the province’s tourism.
The ATF includes the ASEAN Travel Exchange (Travex), to be held from Jan. 28 to 30, a business platform designed to connect ASEAN buyers and sellers and showcase a diverse range of destination products and services.
Frasco said that as of Jan. 14, the Tourism Promotions Board reported that 597 foreign buyers had signed up for business-to-business meetings with the local suppliers, including hotels, resorts, travel and tour operators, transport providers, and other players in the tourism value chain.
She also pointed out that Cebu will host the second-highest number of meetings for the 2026 ASEAN Summit, next to the National Capital Region, drawing more than 5,000 members of the official delegation.
She added that the figure does not include the delegates’ family members, who are expected to visit for leisure rather than official meetings.
“The spillover effect of that, of course, will be the return visits of these delegates, whom I'm sure will be enthralled by Cebu’s capacity to host global advancing business,” said Frasco.
ATF meetings
She said that while national and local governments had to spend funds for the hosting, it should be viewed as an investment, as events like these benefit the economy, particularly local businesses—from hotels down to farmers.
“It also signals confidence, as far as travel back into Cebu is concerned. And what a message to send to the world that despite everything that Cebu has been through, Cebu is ready, Cebu is capable, and Cebu is here to welcome the world with the most excellent hosting of the ASEAN Tourism Forum,” she added.
The ATF includes a series of meetings involving national tourism organizations and senior officials from the 11 ASEAN member countries—Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
Non-Asean countries joining the meetings are Russia, which will participate for the first time, and Australia, as well as Japan, South Korea, and China.
The Philippines was also chosen as the lead country-coordinator for the crafting of the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan, a road-map that sets out shared goals, strategies and actions among ASEAN member-countries.
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