[ manilastandardtoday.com ] August 3, 2009
By Roderick T. dela Cruz
A 360-room hotel will soon rise within the Fantasyland theme park in Dapitan City, according to the Tourism Department.
The department did not say who would build the hotel and when, only stating that the project could be the biggest in Mindanao in terms of number of rooms.
The Fantasyland theme park, owned by the family of convicted child rapist Romeo Jalosjos, was built at a cost of P200 million and is said to be the largest entertainment facility outside Metro Manila.
The theme park is located at the Gloria de Dapitan commercial complex in Dawo village along Sunset Boulevard.
The Jalosjos family, also the owner of the Dakak Beach Resort, is a major investor in Gloria de Dapitan complex and Fantasyland, which boasts 19 rides. Once fully completed, the theme park will have 35 rides.
Fantasyland’s opening boosted tourist arrivals in Zamboanga del Norte, the Tourism Department said. The entertainment facility includes interactive rides, shows and activities for foreign and domestic visitors, it said.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said he foresaw increased investments in accommodation and transportation as well as development of new facilities and destinations, which would sustain the growth of the sector and position Philippine tourism for a higher level of growth.
Tourist arrivals in the top 16 regional tourism destinations outside Metro Manila rose 16.5 percent to about four million in the first half of 2009 from a year ago.
Durano said about 8,000 hotel and resort rooms have been added to the industry since 2004. This year, more than 3,000 rooms have been constructed or are under development.
In the first quarter of the year alone, 1,231 additional rooms were opened. With an aggregate cost of P8.016 billion, these new investments directly employed 1,286 people.
Among the newly-opened tourism projects are the P3.18-billion Imperial Palace Water Park, Resort and Spa in Cebu which increased the room supply in the province by 4 percent to 14,792.
With 616 rooms, Imperial Palace Water Park, Resort and Spa provided employment to 780 workers.
The San Remigio Beach Club in the northern part of Cebu has also opened its new facilities during the first quarter. The resort has built a convention facility to capture the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions of both international and domestic markets.
Shangri-La’s Boracay Resort and Spa, a high-end 217-room resort on Boracay island, opened just in time for the influx of tourists on vacation and long holidays. The resort initially hired 488 workers to manage its product offerings.
Seven locators investing in 28 cluster villas for a total cost of P761.9 million at the Amanpulo Tourism Enterprise Zone in Palawan also began operation in the first quarter.
In Metro Manila, the opening of the Legend International’s Park, Bed and Breakfast Hotel, Eurotel Hotel Branch in Makati, and the expansion of Oakwood Serviced Residences increased the total room supply by 320.
By December, some 1,946 people are expected to be directly employed nationwide once the additional 2,315 rooms become operational, according to the department.
These include the Manila Ocean Park H2O Hotel (120 rooms), the Picasso Serviced Residences (136 rooms), Newport Marriott Hotel (342 rooms) and Maxims Hotel (178 rooms) in Metro Manila.
In Cebu, there is Radisson Hotel (400 rooms) while in Boracay, new and expansion projects include Crowne Regency (449), Phonex Hotel (130 rooms), Boracay Regency Lagoon (120 rooms), Seven Stones (100 rooms) and Grand Water (100 rooms).
Microtel Inns and Suites (50 rooms) will open in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, while Summer Ridge (108 rooms) will be completed in Tagaytay. In Albay, there is Discovery Bay Misibis (82 rooms).
With greater demand for tourism services, the department also endorsed five development projects worth P6.323 billion in the first quarter of the year.
These projects are seen to generate 6,340 employment opportunities for local residents in the said tourist areas. A $200-million luxury spa and resort is set to be developed by Banyan Tree in a 55-hectare property in Diwaran island of Palawan.
This project will generate 8,000 direct and indirect jobs during the planning, construction and operational stages from 2009 to 2012.
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