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Buildings and Structures Multi-use Structures Tourism Gets Mega-kick in Bicol's Hot New Properties
Buildings and Structures Multi-use Structures Tourism Gets Mega-kick in Bicol's Hot New Properties
| Tourism Gets Mega-kick in Bicol's Hot New Properties |
| Saturday, 23 August 2008 07:17 | ||||||
 Albay HSAI Raintree Management Co. is expanding its reach throughout the Philippines with the recent inauguration of Hotel Venezia, a business hotel in Legazpi City, and the soon-to-open Discovery Bay Misibis, a luxury resort in Cagraray Island, Albay.Both properties are expected to give a major boost to the tourist arrivals in the Bicol region, said Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano. In an interview with select reporters at the sidelines of the blessing of the resort on August 8, Durano said with the recent opening of Hotel Venezia, and with Discovery Bay Misibis fully operational next year, tourist arrivals in the region are projected to "grow by 10 percent," hitting the 1-million mark in 2009. Both properties are owned by low-key Bicolano businessman Elizaldy Co, who made his fortune in the construction business. He is chairman of the Sunwest Group of Companies, which hired HSAI Raintree to manage both properties. HSAI Raintree?a hospitality-management firm?is a partnership between the Tiu family of the JKTC Group of Companies and veteran hotelier Annabella Santos-Wisniewski's Raintree Inc. HSAI Raintree also manages the Discovery Suites along ADB Avenue in Pasig City, Discovery Country Suites on Tagaytay City and Discovery Shores in Boracay Island. These properties are owned by the Discovery Leisure Co., a unit of the Tiu family's JKTC Group. Raising the bar for Bicol hotelsThe 40-room Hotel Venezia, located in a subdivision owned by Co called Renaissance Gardens in Legazpi City, is seen raising the bar for the business hotel market in Bicol with its superior facilities, luxury amenities and professional service. First opened in July 2004, the hotel underwent extensive refurbishment under the guidance of HSAI Raintree, which took over management in June 2008.Its guest rooms feature an LCD TV, Wi-Fi connection at the business center, 24-hour room service, function rooms and a restaurant called the Cafe San Marco. A number of its rooms offer a stunning view of the Mayon Volcano, while the hotel is centrally located, making it accessible to a number of natural tourist destinations within Albay and the other provinces in Bicol. "Hotel Venezia will introduce a new level of service and style that will appeal to both business and leisure travelers in this booming city," said Wisniewski. "The hotel creates an environment that enables guests to stay connected whether they are doing business or even while playing a round of golf at Legazpi Golf Club in Tabaco," she added. The hotel is only two minutes away from the airport and is close to several business and government offices. It offers complimentary shuttle service to and from the airport, as well as package tours of nearby tourist destinations. Luxury villas, condotelsSeparately, construction is ongoing at the P1.6-billion Discovery Bay Misibis, with the first phase scheduled for completion in time for the resort's soft opening this December. The first phase will feature 38 luxury villas, seven of which will be by the beach fronting the Albay Gulf, and the rest by two pools.Co said after December, he will start constructing three-story resort units, which are projected to be finished by 2010. It will have a total of 100 rooms and occupy 20 hectares of the entire 400-ha. Misibis property. Discovery Bay Misibis is actually the second phase of Co's real-estate project in the area under his Misibis Land Co. The first phase, dubbed Misibi Residential Estate, commenced in 2005 with the sale of 300 lots to individual home-owners, mostly Filipino-Americans for private development. A third phase is the construction of separate condotel units to be dubbed Amalfi Condotels. Project costs have yet to be determined for this development. According to Wisniewski, Discovery Bay Misibis has just been accredited by the Small Luxury Hotels (SLH) of the World, the second Philippine hotel to be included in the exclusive list of small hotels with their own luxurious touches and individual charms. The first SLH in the Philippines is Discovery Shores Boracay. The SLH membership covers 440 hotels in more than 70 countries, offering prospective guests centralized reservations and booking system to any of its member-properties around the world. Major waterfront developmentAnother Co property, the P1.6-billion Embarcadero, will be managed by Wisniewski's own company, Foodparks by Raintree Inc. The Embarcadero, located at the Legazpi Port, is a major waterfront development seen to become a destination for both local and international visitors to the Bicol region.Owned by Co's Embarcadero Land Ventures, the Embarcadero is designed as a one-stop dining, shopping, entertainment and leisure destination anchored on what is bruited to be the 'largest e-commerce hub" in the region. It will be home to information technology companies, business-process outsourcing companies, corporate offices and a 500-seat training center. Slated to open in 2008, the Embarcadero's masterplan includes a future boutique waterfront hotel and convention center. It will also feature The Market Place, a fish market with local food stalls to cook the fresh catch of the day, which can be enjoyed along the boardwalk which has a view of the majestic Mount Mayon. Meanwhile, Bicol's tourist arrivals and receipts have been steadily rising as more foreign tourists learn to appreciate the region as a primary tourist destination in the country. "What is remarkable is the 114-percent jump in foreign tourists in 2007, primarily due to what we call the ‘three icons of Bicol: the whale shark [butanding] in Donsol, Sorsogon; wakeboarding in Camarines Sur; and the Mayon Volcano,"said Secretary Durano. Camarines Sur alone accounted for some 51 percent of 897,680 total arrivals in Bicol last year, up 41 percent from the 637,127 recorded in 2006, data from the Department of Tourism's (DOT) Bicol regional office showed. Tourism jobs for ex-NPAsBut the establishment of Discovery Bay Misibis, he said, is expected to attract a more upscale crowd with higher spending power, pushing tourist receipts in the region to reach P530 million. The resort is accessible via one-hour land travel from Legazpi City and soon, via 20-minute fastcraft, from the Legazpi Port.In the first quarter of the year, 256,746 tourists arrived in Bicol, with 35,258 accounting for foreign travelers, and the rest domestic tourists, including balikbayan (returning Filipinos), according to DOT's Region 5 office. "We were surprised that in the first quarter alone, tourist receipts already reached P300 million. The more the foreign tourists, the better for the local economy," Durano said. With this remarkable performance, the Bicol region, Durano said, is expected to hit its tourist arrivals target this year of 974,000, up 8 percent from last year's 898,000. Tourist receipts this year are also projected to reach P481 million from P444 million in 2007. According to Maria Ravanilla, regional director of the DOT, about 318,000 jobs were generated last year with the expansion in tourism opportunities. She added that "even former insurgents of the New Peoples' Army have turned to tourism," becoming tour guides or whale shark spotters because these jobs pay decent wages.
Tags: Albay HSAI Raintree Management Co Legazpi City Discovery Bay Misibis Cagraray Island Albay Joseph Ace Durano
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