More hotel investments seen to pour in Vismin

CEBU, Philippines - Key cities in Visayas and Mindanao are seen to attract more hotel investments with the modernization of their regional airports, Colliers International said yesterday.

In a report, the property consultancy firm cited Bacolod and Bohol in Visayas, and Cagayan de Oro and Davao in Mindanao as the key southern Philippine cities that are seen to invite "more hotel and leisure investments given that their respective regional airports are up for expansion and modernization."

"These projects, once completed, should result in the mounting of more direct flights to these provincial hubs and raise hotel occupancy rates," Colliers said.

Colliers cited in particular Cebu’s airport expansion project which is expected to be completed by middle of 2018 and "it should further enhance Cebu’s travel and tourism competitiveness."

Consortium GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp. (GMCAC) is building second passenger terminal at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport which is seen to increase the airport's capacity to 12.5 million per year from 4.4.5 million.

In 2013, GMR-Megawide was awarded the public-private partnership project to develop and operate MCIA, involving the construction of a second passenger terminal.

In 2016, the MCIA handled 8.9 million passengers.

The consortium assumed airport's operations in November 2014.

SUSTAINING THE GROWTH

In the same report, Colliers also said it expects the Philippine economy to sustain its robust growth on the back of the government’s infrastructure and decentralization push.

"Among the key economic segments that will benefit from the government’s thrust is property development. Infrastructure implementation coupled with decentralization should spur the growth of office, residential, retail, industrial, and hotel & leisure segments," the real estate consultant said.

The Philippines' gross domestic product (GDP) accelerated by 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2017.

This was slightly faster than the 6.4 percent logged in the first quarter but slower than the 7.1 percent recorded in the same period last year.

The slower growth last quarter can partly be attributed to the lack of election-related spending which traditionally bolsters household and government expenditures.

Despite this, the Philippines remains as one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

"Moving forward, much of the country's growth will hinge on ramped-up infrastructure spending, which should support the Duterte administration's commitment to build crucial projects throughout the country," said Colliers.

The ushering in of the "golden age of infrastructure" also lends support to the government's decentralization push which should unlock land values in areas outside of Metro Manila and stimulate business activities in the countryside, the firm said.

"Given this, we recommend that developers zero in on the thriving opportunities outside of the country's capital," it said. (FREEMAN)