One island is lovely. Two is a holiday. Six? That’s either an excellent itinerary or a very compelling reason to extend your leave.
For travelers arriving in Cebu, the prospect of exploring more of the Visayas is getting a little easier to navigate. A new initiative, Discover the Visayas, #FlyViaCebu, aims to connect visitors with destinations beyond the usual stopover, making a case for treating Cebu not just as a place to land, but as a starting point for further adventures.
Launched through a Memorandum of Understanding signed on October 23, 2026, at Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA), the initiative brings together the Department of Tourism, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, MCIA and the Visayas Island-Chamber Tourism Alliance.
Its initial itinerary spans six destinations, each with its own particular appeal. In Lapu-Lapu, history and marine adventures sit alongside beachside escapes. Panglao offers white sand and diving, while Boracay delivers its familiar mix of shoreline lounging, water activities and after-dark diversions.
Further afield, Siquijor trades big-night energy for waterfalls, beaches and local traditions. Guimaras has mangoes and landscapes worth lingering over, while Biliran rewards nature-minded travelers with waterfalls and quieter island escapes.
The appeal lies in the contrasts. A trip need not be built around one famous beach or a single resort. With a little planning, a traveler can trade crowded shores for a waterfall trail, a lively dinner scene for a sleepy coastal town, or a day underwater for an afternoon spent sampling the local harvest.
Getting between destinations, of course, requires more than wanderlust and a well-packed swimsuit. MCIA’s CEB Connects service facilitates flight transfers across its network of 28 domestic and 13 international destinations. Minimum connection times are 35 minutes for domestic-to-domestic transfers and 60 minutes for domestic-to-international or international-to-domestic connections, with baggage transferred automatically to connecting flights.
Trip.com provides flight and hotel bookings, while Klook lists activities and experiences, including available partner offers.
The campaign’s guiding idea, “One Gateway. More Islands,” is a reminder that Cebu can be more than the first chapter of a trip. The real pleasure, though, is what comes after arrival: discovering that the next island might feel like an entirely different holiday.
And that’s a good reason to leave a little room in the itinerary—and perhaps a few extra days on the calendar.
