The present and on-going boom in Philippine tourism renders Mactan in serious lack of new new hotel accommodations. This was what Movenpick Hotel Mactan Island Hotel General Manager Harold Rainfroy shared with the media recently.

The worse scenario is that visitors to Cebu may have no other choice but to opt for hotels in other localities.

“With the overexcitement about the Philippines now, the five to six major hotels in Mactan is not enough to welcome the whole world,” Rainfroy observed. He said this during the launch of Vanille Salee menu on February 15, 2017.

“We need to build more rooms to satisfy demand,” Rainfroy urged.

So far, there are 79 hospitality businesses in Mactan. That makes some 5,000 hotel rooms in all as of 2016, according to Hembler Mendoza, tourism officer of Lapu-Lapu City. But Rainfroy said, however, that resort hotels in Mactan have declared full occupancy since December 2016. In Movenpick, for example, a 96 percent occupancy rate has been logged during the latest three months.

Moreover, Rainfroy said Mactan suffers from its own tourism success due to the shortage of accommodation—and yet guests keep arriving.

“It is welcoming that there are new players coming in. We hope to have more branded hotels here to attract all market segments, especially those high spenders,” Rainfroy said. This is better than to shoo away tourists from the city for good.

He further stressed that competition may tighten with more new hotel players doing business in Mactan. But this is a good problem. It would mean more marketing promotions for Cebu and Mactan Island.

How about the traffic problem that may be worsened by the tourist influx? Rainfroy downplayed the possibility, saying traffic can always be diverted away from the metropolis to Mactan’s resorts.

“Surely, it (traffic) slightly kills the reputation of the destination, but for resorts, all we need is good weather. As long as we have the sun, guests would no longer need to be in the city,” Rainfroy said optimistically.

The 245-unit Movenpick Hotel aims to attract a good mix of nationalities to log as guests the whole year.

“We cannot just be a hotel dedicated to one or two nationalities. We need to have a good blend of guests because people from all over the world would want to see diversity,” he said. “When people see that, they would all the more feel that they are on vacation.”

Rainfroy added that getting visitors from other countries would remedy losses that the hotel may incur, especially if a sudden exigency should occur.