Tuesday, August 12, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGGI), the investment holding company of real estate tycoon Andrew Tan, and Star Cruises Ltd. of the Malaysian-based conglomerate Genting Group, will jointly invest at least $1.55 billion over the next five years in two large-scale tourism-oriented projects which they claim will make them the biggest hotel owner in the Philippines.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AGGI said Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. will serve as the corporate vehicle for their proposed joint venture projects, which include the construction of several hotels with a total room capacity of 5,000. AGGI has sold half of Travellers International to Star Cruises for $335 million.
Travellers International, the tourism arm of AGGI, has obtained a “provisional license” from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to build a multibillion-dollar casino and tourism complex in the Manila Bay reclamation area.
Of the total $1.55-billion investment, $1.1 billion will go to the development of a 37-hectare property along the Manila Bay area into a 24/7 integrated entertainment city called Manila Bayshore. It will host several hotels with around 3,400 rooms and a world-class theme park.
The balance of $450 million will be used to build three hotels as well as a themed shopping and entertainment center in Newport City, a 25-hectare master-planned urban resort complex located at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City.
Once completed, the Newport City hotel project will offer a total of about 1,600 rooms. The six-star, all-suite Maxims Hotel will account for 176 rooms; the five-star Marriott Hotel, 365 rooms; and a three-star hotel with 1,060 rooms.
Marriott is slated to open in 2009 while Maxims and the three-star hotel will follow the following year.
Maxims’ 176 hotel rooms will include three villas, each with a private swimming pool, and 24 suites equipped with a private outdoor jacuzzi and garden.
AGGI president Kingson Sian said the company’s partnership with Star Cruises is in line with the group’s vision to put the Philippines on the radar screens of tourists and foreign investors.
“The next few years will be exciting for the Philippine tourism industry, and we want to play a major role in promoting and developing this industry. We believe in the vision of making the Philippines one of the best tourist destinations in Asia, and together with our partner Star Cruises, we will make this happen,” Sian said.
In the last four years, visitor arrivals in the Philippines have been steadily increasing although still lagging behind its neighbors. For this year, tourist arrivals are expected to reach 3.3 million from 3.1 million in 2007.
Sian said the opening of the NAIA Terminal 3 will pave the way for the emergence of Newport City as a tourism gateway for the Philippines.
The Manila Bayshore project, on the other hand, is also expected to serve as a tourism gateway by bringing in tourists aboard Star Cruises’ ships to the Philippines.
“We are exploring the possibility of bringing in the tourists aboard Star Cruises’ ships as our way of reviving the interest in ‘cruising the seas’ and making our visitors experience a different way of entering the country,” Sian said.
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