The creation of a world-class attraction is important for Cebu's future as a major tourist destination in Asia. A suggestion of what can be done.
Clearly, tourism is an important component of Cebu's economy and identity. Cebu has thrived to the degree that it has largely as a result of a good stream of arrivals from Japan and other countries. In order to close the gap between our living standards and those in developed countries, tourism must be encouraged and promoted further. To this end, doing well in the competition against other tropical destinations - such as Phuket, Guam, Hawaii, the Maldives - is critical to Cebu's success.
Cebu continues to score well in surveys of tourist spots in Asia. This is actually somewhat surprising, because Cebu lacks a world-class tourist attraction. Our past success is perhaps due to good balance: the infrastructure is reasonably well-developed, tourists can enjoy the sea as well as the malls, and our workers perform fairly well.
However, to remain competitive in the long run, and to become a world-famous tourist destination on par with the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Tahiti, Cebu needs to do much more. Spefically, we need a world-class attraction, which we currently lack.
Some might say that our white-sand beaches and good weather are enough to keep the arrivals coming. Perhaps. But there is a risk that arrivals, instead of increasing, will gradually drop off, and Cebu will become yet another seedy town that has seen better days, the hotels dilapidated, the economy stagnant, and the city riddled with drugs.
Why? Because of competition from better-prepared rivals. As far as the most important markets of Japan and Korea are concerned, our closest competition currently comes from Guam, which is a similar distance from both countries, and equally economical compared to more expensive destinations such as Hawaii, Tahiti, or the Maldives.
Guam has a world-class aquarium. It is not only one of the largest aquariums in the world, but it has also been creatively designed with tunnels and multiple tanks; moreover, the tanks do not look like tanks, having been crafted to mimic the natural environment. An expert staff of scientists is on hand to look after the numerous rare and magnificent specifies of fish, sea snakes, custaceans, and mollusks. The aquarium is home to not one but dozens of manta rays, and other majestic creatures are in abundance, too. Guam's aquarium is as good as, if not better, than the best aquariums in the US, Japan, or Australia.
It is interesting that Guam has this aquarium, because Guam, like Cebu, is an island blessed with warm, tropical waters, abundant nature and a sun-drenched climate. Clearly, the natives of Guam felt that being a paradise island was not good enough. Tourists had to be offered something more than nature and God gave the island. By offering its visitors added value, Guam increased its competitiveness in the region.
Cebu's best aquarium, meanwhile, continues to be a fish tank in a Chinese restaurant in Lahug.
Not surprising then, that Guam received 1,102,873 foreign visitors in 2004, while Cebu got a total of only 351,209. Guam has a Sheraton and Hyatt, while we have neither; adding insult to injury, the Cebu Plaza Hotel, our pride and joy for many years, has been ignominiously shut down.
So is it the case that Cebu should also build a world-class aquarium?
Without a doubt, this would a monumental fallacy. It would be senseless to try and repeat what the island of Guam has already done much better than we ever could. The capital investment required alone would make the building of an aquarium difficult. Moreover, merely aping the Guamanians would be an insult to Cebuano pride. What Cebu needs is a world-class attraction other than an aquarium.
What exactly can Cebu do to develop a major world-class tourist attraction? Let us consider some options.
A major amusement park such as Disneyland is out, since Hong Kong is already building one. In fact, Cebuanos have been lining up at travel agencies to get their tickets to the opening scheduled in September.
An underwater hotel, while an imaginative idea, is also out, since Dubai has already built one, five stars no less.
What about the world's tallest building? Not only would that cost far too much, it has already been done by several cities in Asia - Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Taipei - who keep completing skyscrapers a few meters higher than the last in a mad vanity race to squander billions of dollars.
The Great Barrier Reef, being a divine rather than human creation, is impossible to replicate, and so are the Niagara Falls. And it is a bit too late to start building something on par with the Taj Mahal or Angkor Wat.
How about capitalizing on Cebuanos' penchant for gambling, and developing a whole bunch of Las Vegas-style casinos, replete with shows, over-the-top decor, and luxury accommodation facilities? That might have been a good idea five years ago, but nearby Macao has just embarked on this path, with investments from two Las Vegas corporations totaling several billion dollars.
Is there nothing, then, that Cebu can do? Well, actually there is one world-class attraction we could build that is guaranteed to attract tourists not just from Japan and Korea, but also the US and Europe. It would be unique in the world, it would cost very little to develop, and it would put Cebu on the global tourist map once and for all. At the very least, it would make Cebu more competitive by giving our visitors something to do on a rainy day other than malling.
What we need to do is build a museum of modern art.
There has been massive global surge of interest in modern art in recent years, and the major modern art galleries in Europe and America continue to draw record numbers of visitors. England's Tate Modern alone drew 22 million visitors last year,
Now, you might be thinking that it is beyond Cebu's financial means to fund a world-class museum of modern art. Indeed, all the major modern art museums - the Tate Modern, Pompideau, and MoMA - have lately been spending serious first-world money. The Tate Modern spent $245 million (PhP 13.6 billion) on a recent renovation. New York's famous MoMA was rebuilt and expanded for $858 million (PhP 47.7 billion) last year.
And that's just the buildings. With a single painting by a popular Impressionist retailing for well over a million dollars, it takes the equivalent of a Philippine national budget to build an impressive collection. Even the best museums in Europe slowly built up their collections over many decades, one painting at a time.
There's a neat little solution to this, however, and I present it to the Cebu and the world on this 20th day of June, 2005.
It so happens that the primary attractions at the museums of modern art continue to be the great painters of the Impressionist movement: Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse, Gauguin, Picasso, Degas, Monet, to name a few. And the copyright for their works has long since expired.
The solution would thus be to build a fairly nice shell, for about 50 or 100 million (pesos!) and fill it with reproductions of the real paintings. A crop of our talented local artists could be dispatched to the major museums of the world to produce the material. (It is common practice to copy paintings while studying art, and art students busily copying paintings are often seen in museums.) In fact, we could even save on air fare, commission the copies via the Internet, and have them sent to Cebu via Federal Express.
The quality of the paintings should not be a problem. The interesting thing about paintings is that it is usually very hard to tell an original from an expertly produced fake. In fact, because counterfeiters often try to pass of fakes as originals, a whole branch of science has evolved around the task of verifying the authenticity of paintings. Often, a painting will have been identified as an original, and then reclassified as a fake, or vice versa. To 99.99 percent of the art viewing public, the reproduction is as good as the original and the difference is impossible to tell.
A major benefit would be that the Cebu Modern Art Museum (CMAM) would be able to display paintings from disparate collections around the world, and even those in the hands of private collectors. Thus, in Cebu, art lovers would be able to view Van Gogh's entire works at once - in addition to those of every other Impressionist.
The whole project would not cost an insubstantial amount, but still far less than a megadome, or, for that matter, a world-class aquarium. Fifty or a hundred million pesos is not a high price for gaining entrance into the elite club of true world cities.
CMAM would be more than just a tourist attraction; it could potentially turn Cebu into a genuine hub of the art world. Local art talent would flourish, Cebu would become the mecca of the Asian art scene, and local creativity in related fields - architecture, fashion, design - would blossom. Juan Luna would be proud.
If successful, the project could be expanded to include fine art. It goes beyond saying that the museums of fine art continue to be the greatest attractions in their cities. How many visitors would Paris and Madrid get if it were not for the Louvre and the Prado? Significantly less, if the itineraries of city tours in those cities are any indication.
In conclusion, the Cebu Modern Art Museum, if implemented well, would boost our tourist arrivals and spark the surging boom that will take our economy to the next level - and that much closer to first-world status.
June 20, 2005
