Many tourists book flights to Cebu, but do not even get there. They land at Mactan Island International Airport and transfer straight to resorts which are only a few minutes' drive away.
They spend their whole holiday in a resort and never venture over the bridge to Cebu Island.
Some Japanese travellers are even unaware that they are in the Philippines, as their travel agents simply promote Cebu as 'an island in the Pacific'.
The Shangri-La's Mactan Island Resort is the main one - the only five-star resort in the Philippines - and only 15 minutes' drive from the airport.
The resort opened in 1995 and recently added a new wing, a second swimming pool and an Italian restaurant.
There are now 546 guest rooms and suites, and in spite of the downturn in the region's economies, the resort is one of the best-performing properties in the group.
General manager Coen Masselink said there was stiff competition in the region after currency devaluations, but the Mactan resort was doing well, and was the most popular in the group for business conferences.