Tieza eyes foreign investments for hotel, cruise tourism

MANILA, Philippines — The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority(TIEZA) is eyeing foreign investments for the country’s accommodation and cruise tourism sector, an official of the agency said.

TIEZA officer-in-charge for the TEZ management sector Nino Ruperto Aquino told The STAR that investments for the country’s accommodation sector are basically what they are looking for when the agency conducts roadshows abroad.

This is driven by the lack of hotels in some areas in the country.

“But right now we are also looking at [investments for] cruise tourism, cruise ports,” Aquino said.

“We are also looking at health and wellness enterprises and medical tourism and farm tourism,” he added.

Last November, the TIEZA presented various tourism investment opportunities in the Philippines to prospective Hong Kong Chinese tourism investors in Hong Kong.

Aquino said the main objective of the roadshows is to promote investment in the TIEZA’s tourism enterprise zones (TEZs).

He cited the flagship TEZ in Panglao, where foreign investors could lease the land to put up hotels.

“Be the hotel operator and in turn, we will give them the incentives,” Aquino said.

The TIEZA official said foreigners cannot own land in the Philippines, so locating as hotel operators in TIEZA’s TEZs is one viable option for them to do business in the country.

Asked if Hong Kong investors have already expressed interest in the Philippines, Aquino said there is interest, but everything is just initiatory talks.

“You have to negotiate, you have to discuss further and if they are really interested maybe they can come here and we enter (an agreement),” Aquino said.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo earlier said there is a lot of interest from foreign investors to come into the country.

Teo, however, said the department is eyeing investments for the hotels and accommodation sector to address the lack of facilities in some areas.

She identified Davao as one location for potential hotel investments due to the lack of five-star hotels in the area. She also cited Bohol and Palawan as other possible locations for hotel investments.

The need for more hotels in the country is driven by the growing number of tourists in the country.

As of the first 10 months of the 2017, foreign arrivals have reached 5.47 million, an 11.54 percent rise from 4.91 million in the previous year.

Last week, travel website Skyscanner mapped Manila as one of the destinations to visit this January, emphasizing the Feast of the Black Nazarene as one of the celebrations tourists should witness.

“Plan your visit to coincide with the Feast of the Black Nazarene on January 9th where you’ll see a life-sized statue of Jesus (brought to the Philippines from Mexico in 1606) carried through the packed streets of Quiapo Church by devotees shouting “Viva Señor,” whilst the crowds try and touch the statue for blessings and miracles,” Skyscanner said.