Cebu City: your home-away-from-home

Normal, Weekender
Source:

The National, Friday July 27th, 2012

The commencement of this flight now brings to 10 interna-tional destinations, Air Niugini now operates to whilst it also marks Air Niugini’s second destination in the Philippines after the capital, Manila.
Other international destina¬tions include Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney in Australia, Honiara in Solomon Islands, Nadi in Fiji, Tokyo in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.”
Air Niugini chief executive officer Wasantha Kumarasi said in Cebu that night that the regular flights would boost business opportunities be¬tween the two countries.
“The Cebu route ensures convenience for the hundreds of Filipinos involved in the multi-billion dollar LNG project in Papua New Guinea, as well as those Filipinos in the fisheries sector and other industries,” he said.
“I am happy to see the president of RD Tuna Group, president of Frabelle PNG Ltd, and owner of Kenmore Group of Companies this evening.”
After that, we checked into the five-star Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, after which we had the chance to sample the nightlife of Cebu, a city that never sleeps.
Next morning, I had the chance to meet my good Facebook friend Mel Oplimo, whom I have talked with on the social network site but have never met personally.
He is a Cebu businessman, who has business links with PNG, and was more than happy to show us around the city.
Several things struck me about Cebu, first and foremost that despite being home to many millions of people, the streets are so clean.
Cafes and restaurants are everywhere.
The shopping is excellent.
Wifi is just about every¬where in the city, meaning free internet access, so I carried my laptop around with me and filed my stories and pictures from the streets of Cebu.
Oplimo says Air Niugini cannot go wrong as Cebu is the business and tourism hub of the Phillipines.
“We enjoy the splendor and beauty of Cebu,”he tells me.
“Cebu is known for its semi-conductor industry, furniture industry, shipping, travel and tourism.
“Cebu is known as a rest and recreation area and most entre¬preneurs and Chinese tycoons come from Cebu.
“Cebu is known as a tour¬ism hub.
“It has been declared as one of the best destinations for tourism in Asia because of its pristine white beaches and hotel services.”
As much as I would have loved to stay on for a bit more, I could not do so, and had to travel back to Port Moresby on the return flight on Wednes¬day, July 25.
However, given my new-found friends in Cebu, such as Oplimo, his family and business associates, I can now feel very much at home going there.
Cebu is, indeed, my new home-away-from-home.
For further details on how to travel to Cebu, contact Air Niugini or your travel agent.
[email protected]. pg
Business between the Philippines and PNG is likely to increase with the introduction of Air
Niugini’s twice weekly flights between Port Moresby and Cebu. MALUM NALU reports
 
A clean, well-kept and respected walkway in Cebu…lessons for PNG
Live entertainment at the welcome reception
Cebu is famous for its roast pork
A well-kept Cebu street