Tagged: Review

A Korean group, which is constructing a 616-room resort hotel complex in Lapu Lapu City, has unveiled its plan to also construct a retirement village and a golf course in the coastal town of Cordova located at the southeastern tip of Mactan Island, Cebu.

Serviced apartment provider Oakwood is back in the Philippines, with the formal opening on September 9, 2009 of its 223-unit Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila in Ortigas Center built by the leisure and resort property unit of the family of biscuit magnate Jacinto Ng.

Undeterred by the global economic crisis, Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila, occupying 28 floors of the P3-billion 41-storey Joy~Nostalg Center Manila, actually had a soft launching on August 1, but the formal opening of the hotel is on September 9, 2009.
"We are back in the Philippines," said Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila general manager Brian Connelly. "Ortigas is the best location for corporate business. It is located just across the Asian Development Bank and is near large shopping malls, business process outsourcing establishments and call centers."

Connelly said Oakwood Premier is looking at business travellers, tourists, and Filipinos as its market. "We are drawing people from as far as Makati and Quezon City," he said.

Radisson Blu Hotel, a 400-room five-star hotel, is set to open in Cebu City.  Built by SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. at a cost of PhP3 billion, Radisson Hotel will be managed by global hospitality and travel firm Carlson.

Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. has announced the first concrete pouring for its US$1 billion Entertainment City Project in Parañaque City.  The project is expected to generate some 4,000 jobs once it starts operations by the third or fourth quarter of 2012. 

Zest Airways Inc. plans to launch more regional flights this year as it expands its fleet with the addition of two Airbus A320 planes to meet growing passenger traffic.  Company president and CEO Alfredo Yao said the carrier would introduce scheduled flights to Incheon, Korea and Shanghai, China from Manila in June and direct flights from Manila to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in October.

Zest Air is also launching Clark-Hong Kong, Clark-Bangkok and Clark-Singapore flights in the last quarter of 2012.

“Our total passengers for our domestic flights this January is 224,723 compared to 150,091 in January last year, while for our international flights we had 35,638 passengers versus 15,990,” said Mr. Yao.

A study by the National Statistics Office (NSO) counted a total of 14,998 hotels and restaurants in the Philippines as of 2009.  Results of the 2009 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) show that of the total, hotels and other accommodation facilities accounted for 1,650 or 11.0 percent.  The rest of the 13,348 establishments are either restaurants, bars, canteens or other drinking and eating places.

Employment in the hotel and restaurant sector reached 290,672 as of 2009. Of the total employment, 283,171 or 97.4 percent were paid employees and the rest, 7,501 or 2.6 percent, were working owners and unpaid workers.

Global Estate Resorts Inc. has launched two additional projects at Boracay Newcoast, a 150-hectare mixed-use leisure and resort development.  These projects are the Oceanway Residences 1 & Oceanway Residences 2, a cluster of seven modern residential condominiums and Boracay Savoy Hotel, which is envisioned to become the Ibiza of Asia.

The park is set to be the city’s major tourist destination. It is expected to draw millions of visitors on its first year, offering a unique tourist experience beyond the usual shopping activities,” said park developer, China Oceanis Philippines, Inc., a joint venture between Singaporean and Malaysian investors.