There was a time when promoting Palawan seemed simple: bring Palawan to the traveler.
I remember when we first developed the idea for the World’s Best Island Travel and Trade Expo, or WBI, in 2015. Working with the Provincial Government of Palawan and the Palawan Tourism Council through USAID Compete program, we created a platform where Palawan could present its destinations, tourism enterprises, local products and experiences directly to the market.
The logic was straightforward. If we wanted more people to visit Palawan, we could not simply wait for them to discover us. We had to bring Palawan closer to them.
The first WBI was held at Glorietta in Makati. It was ambitious, but the location made sense. Manila was where many potential travelers, travel companies and business partners were based.
When the expo returned to Glorietta in February 2025, more than 80 exhibitors showcased destinations, travel deals, local products, cultural experiences and tourism opportunities. Looking at how far the concept has come, the next step seemed inevitable: WBI had to move beyond Metro Manila.
This year, it is going to Cebu.
The Palawan World’s Best Island Travel and Trade Expo 2026 will be held from October 23 to 25 at Ayala Center Cebu, carrying the theme “Beyond Paradise: Connecting Islands. Creating Opportunities.” It will be the first WBI edition outside Metro Manila.
Gov. Amy Roa Alvarez announced the Cebu edition at a press conference on August 19. She emphasized the importance of continuing to expand tourism’s reach, particularly because tourism remains as one of the Palawan’s major industries.
She also noted a significant shift in Palawan’s visitor profile: domestic and foreign travelers now account for roughly equal shares of arrivals. That is a major change from the pre-pandemic period, when international tourists dominated the province’s visitor numbers.
For me, this is one reason Cebu makes perfect sense.
Cebu is where the market is
Moving WBI to Cebu is not merely about transferring an event from one city to another. It is about going where the market already is.
Cebu is a major tourism and business center, a gateway to the Visayas and a source of travelers who are already accustomed to taking trips, spending on experiences and planning their next destinations. Mactan-Cebu International Airport handled 11.6 million passengers in 2025, reinforcing Cebu’s position as a major regional air gateway.
These are not people who need to be taught how to travel. They are already traveling—and they can get to Palawan.
With direct flights connecting Cebu to Puerto Princesa, El Nido and Busuanga, the gateway to Coron, the message to the Cebu market is deliberately simple: Duol ra diay ang Palawan. Palawan is nearer than you think.
People already know El Nido, Coron and Puerto Princesa. They have seen the beaches, lagoons, limestone cliffs and reefs in countless photographs. They know Palawan is beautiful.
The question now is different: How do we move someone from saying, “I want to visit Palawan someday,” to saying, “I’m booking my trip to Palawan”?
That is the next challenge in tourism marketing. The problem is no longer awareness. It is conversion.
Beyond the postcard
The postcard image of Palawan has served us well. We should continue telling stories about white beaches, turquoise waters, dramatic cliffs and underground rivers.
But Palawan is more than a collection of beautiful photographs.
It is also the fisherman who supplies a restaurant, the farmer who grows food for visitors, the boat operator taking tourists to an island, the guide sharing a community’s history, the craft maker preserving tradition and the small resort owner trying to attract guests beyond the peak season.
Palawan recorded P65.51 billion in tourism receipts and visitor spending in 2025, alongside 2.13 million visitor arrivals. Those figures are impressive, but numbers alone cannot tell us whether tourism’s benefits are reaching enough Palaweños.
Palawan Tourism Council president Rix Rafols expressed the larger goal well: “We want a tourism that is available for everybody. But also, we want a tourism that benefits every Palaweño.”
That is the deeper purpose of taking WBI to Cebu. We are not simply selling rooms and tour packages, we are creating connections between the market and the communities, enterprises and people who make Palawan what it is.
Marketing must meet access
This year’s WBI will feature a travel and trade exhibition, business-to-business meetings and an Investment Forum. Its targets—8,000 visitors, 60 buyer companies, 250 business appointments and P25 million in bookings on site and within 30 days—are ambitious.
But behind these numbers are practical opportunities: a travel agent discovering a new destination, a tour operator adding a Palawan itinerary, a company planning a meeting or incentive trip, or a local entrepreneur finding a buyer for a product made in the province.
That is how tourism spreads.
Still, marketing alone is not enough. A destination may have the strongest campaign in the world, but if reaching it is difficult or expensive, promotion can take travelers only so far.
Marketing brings people to the idea of Palawan. Access allows them to act on it. Both must move together.
The province and the PTC are exploring new domestic and international markets, while discussions on airport improvements—including the planned expansion of Coron’s runway and terminal—could eventually support larger aircraft, longer operating hours and more direct flights.
These may sound like infrastructure concerns. They are not. They are tourism strategy. A destination must be both desirable and reachable.
A larger opportunity
When WBI began in 2015, the goal was to bring Palawan closer to travelers in Manila. In 2026, Palawan is taking that idea to the Visayas. There are still markets to reach, travelers to convert, businesses to connect and communities that deserve a larger share of the tourism economy.
The message from Cebu should therefore be more than “Come to Palawan.”
It should be this: Duol ra diay ang Palawan. Palawan is closer than you think—and there is much more of it waiting to be discovered.
See you at WBI Cebu 2026, October 23 to 25, at Ayala Center Cebu.
