Cebu City, Province of Cebu, Central Visayas Region, Philippines

🇵🇭 Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a 1st class highly urbanised city in the region of Central Visayas, Philippines. It is the fifth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the Visayas. It is the regional centre and primate city of Central Visayas and seat of government of the province of Cebu, but governed independently. The city and its metropolitan area exerts influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism & healthcare beyond the region, over the entire Visayas and partly over Mindanao. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. The highest-ranked university outside Manila based on international rankings is located in Cebu City; the University of San Carlos.

Cebu is bounded on the north by the town of Balamban and the city of Danao, on the west by the city of Toledo, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of Liloan, Consolacion and Compostela and on the south by the city of Talisay. Located at the centre of the eastern seaboard of Cebu Island, it is the core city of Metro Cebu, the second largest metropolitan area in the Philippines by population & economy, which includes the cities of Carcar, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga and Talisay and the municipalities (towns) of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan, Minglanilla and San Fernando. Metro Cebu is the second-most populous metropolitan area of the nation.

The current political boundaries of the city is an incorporation of the former municipalities of Cebu, San Nicolas, El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban and Banilad in the Commonwealth period.

Owing to its economic importance and influence in modern times, Cebu City is popularly called Queen City of the South. It is the "Second City" of the Philippines.

Cebu Island is listed oo Condé Nast Traveler's World's Best Islands rankings. The City and its island-province are often marketed as a single tourist destination, combining natural countryside scenery with urban attractions including cultural-historical sites and developing infrastructure. Tourism is one of the most important industries in the city; it remains as one of the most visited in the country by both domestic and foreign visitors.

Cebu City was recognised by the British Council as the Creative Capital of the Philippines. In 2019, it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design.

Economy Ceboom, a portmanteau of Cebu and Boom, has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of both Cebu City and Cebu Province in the early 1990s.

With Cebu city's proximity to many islands, beaches, hotel and resorts, diving locations and heritage sites, high domestic and foreign tourist arrivals have fuelled the city's tourism industry. Due to its geographic location, accessibility by air, land and sea transportation, Cebu City has become the tourist gateway to Central and Southern Philippines. Its port, Port of Cebu, is the country's second largest seaport.

The city is a major hub for the business process out-sourcing industry of the Philippines. In 2013, Cebu ranked 8th world-wide in the "Top 100 BPO Destinations Report" by global advisory firm, Tholons. In 2012, the growth in IT-BPO revenues in Cebu grew 26.9 percent at $484 million, while nationally, the industry grew 18.2 percent at $13 billion.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures, formerly known as Cebu Pan Asian Holdings, is the first holding company from Cebu City publicly listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Ayala Corporation, through its subsidiary Cebu Holdings, Inc. and Cebu Property, both publicly in the PSE Index, developed the Cebu Park District where the mixed-used development zones of the Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park are located. Both master planned areas are host to regional headquarters for various companies in the banking, finance, IT and tourism sectors among others.

Shipbuilding companies in Cebu have manufactured bulk carriers of up to 70,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) and double-hulled fast craft as well. This industry made the Philippines the 4th largest shipbuilding country in the world.

With a revenue growth rate of 18.8 percent in 2012, the real estate industry is the fastest growing sector in Cebu. With the strong economic indicators and high investors' confidence level, more condominium projects and hypermarkets are being developed in the locality.

The South Road Properties (SRP) is a 300-hectare (740-acre) prime property development project on a reclaimed land located a few metres off the coast of Cebu's central business district. It is a mixed-use development that will feature entertainment, leisure, residential and business-processing industries. It is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC). Traversing the property is a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi), four-lane highway known as the Cebu Coastal Road that provides the motorists with a good view of Cebu's south coast and the nearby island of Bohol.

Ayala Center Cebu is a shopping mall at the Cebu Business Park. More than 85,000 people visit this mall every day, with the figure increasing to 135,000 daily on weekends. A second mall located in IT Park was opened last December 6, 2019, dubbed as Ayala Malls Central Bloc.

Tourist Industry Tourism is a thriving industry in Cebu. It hosted the 1998 ASEAN Tourism Forum. The city also hosted the East Asian Tourism Forum in August 2002, in which the province of Cebu is a member and signatory.

Views of Cebu City and its skyline can be seen from villages and numerous gated communities located on its mountainsides.

There is a significant number of Filipino-Spanish heritage buildings in Cebu City such as Fort San Pedro, Basilica del Santo Niño, Magellan's Cross, and the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. The city hosts the Museo Sugbo and Casa Gorordo Museum. The Cebu Taoist Temple is also situated within the city.

Education Cebu City, and Metro Cebu as a whole, is an important educational hub in Southern Philippines. Cebu City itself is currently home to ten large universities each with a number of campuses throughout Cebu province and more than a dozen other schools specialising in various courses.

Among these schools is the University of San Carlos, one of the most highly regarded educational institutions in the Philippines. It claims to trace its roots to Colegio de San Ildefonso, which was founded in 1595. It has five campuses around Cebu City, including the Downtown Campus (formerly Main Campus) and the Talamban Campus (TC), both of which are home to the school's college programs. It is currently headed by the Society of the Divine Word.

The University of the Philippines Cebu, located at Barangay Camputhaw in the district near Lahug currently has eight courses and has plans of expansion and development. The U.P. Board of Regents elevated the status of U.P. Cebu as a constituent university of the University of the Philippines System on October 27, 2016.

Another Catholic university in Cebu City is the University of San Jose–Recoletos which was established in 1947. It is currently headed by the Augustinian Recollects and has two different campuses within the city, excluding a new campus outside the city located in the municipality of Balamban.

Cebu Normal University (CNU) was established in 1902 as a provincial normal school, a branch of the Philippine Normal School. It became an independent institution in 1924, a chartered college in 1976, and a university in 1998. CNU offers academic programs at the nursery, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, undergraduate, and graduate levels. CNU is designated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as Center of Excellence (COE) in both Nursing Education and Teacher Education.

The Cebu Doctors' University (formerly Cebu Doctors' College) was granted university status in November 2004. It is the only private school in the Philippines to achieve university status without a designated basic education (pre-school – high school) curriculum; it caters mainly to courses related to the health services field. It was relocated to a nine-story building in 2007 at the Cebu Boardwalk (now Dr. P.V. Larrazabal Jr. Avenue) in neighboring city of Mandaue, thus closing its old campus near the then Cebu Doctors' Hospital (now Cebu Doctors' University Hospital). As of 2016, the university now offers senior high school (grades 11 and 12)

The University of Cebu (UC) has four campuses located within the city: Its main campus, located in Sanciangko Street, offers degree programs such as a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), HRM, Computer Engineering, BSED and others. The Maritime Education & Training Center (METC), located in Barangay Mambaling, which hosts the university's maritime programs, was opened in 1991. Its third campus, in Barangay Banilad, was opened in June 2002. A fourth campus, the Pardo–Talisay campus, located in Barangay Bulacao Pardo, near the boundary between Cebu City and Talisay, was added to the UC network in 2021 after the university's acquisition of St. Paul College Foundation, Inc.

Also located within in the city is the University of the Visayas, established in 1919, and is considered to be the first educational institution in Cebu which was granted with a university status. It was granted an autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in 2010 and currently offers basic education and a number of courses in the tertiary level including medical courses (Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Midwifery, and Health Care Services) which are housed in its campus in Banilad area. Aside from its campuses within Cebu City, it also has numerous campuses located around the province of Cebu.

Other noteworthy institutions in the city include the Cebu Institute of Technology – University (formerly Cebu Institute of Technology), the main campus of Cebu Technological University (formerly the Cebu State College of Science and Technology), Southwestern University, University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Lahug and Mabini, Asian College of Technology (formerly Asian Computer Institute), Benedicto College, Cebu Eastern College, Cebu International School, Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion, College of Technological Sciences - Cebu, Don Bosco Technical College–Cebu (DBTC), Saint Theresa's College of Cebu, Sacred Heart School - Ateneo de Cebu, Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology, and Velez College (together with its independently administered medical school arm Cebu Institute of Medicine), among others.