CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Landmasters Inc. yesterday announced its move to collaborate with Singapore-based hospitality group The Ascott Limited to build more hotels in the growing tourist hubs of Visayas and Mindanao.
CLI CEO Jose Soberano III said the developer sees more opportunities in the projected growth in tourist arrivals, which would require additional hotel capacity.
“The Philippines pales in comparison to our Asean neighbors,” Soberano said, citing Thailand and Malaysia as examples.
In 2018, the Philippines has less than seven million tourists. While Thailand reported over 38 million tourists last year, Malaysia also had more than 25 million tourists.
“Even a place like Bali has about the same (number of tourists) when compared to our national level,” he said.
He pointed out the country has to have additional capacity to be able to attract more tourists, including the big conventions market.
“Just like any undertaking when you see an opportunity, we’d like to take advantage of this and make this part of our growth strategy. Also, it makes a lot of sense for a real estate company like ours who also want to grow the recurring business side of our revenue base,” Soberano said.
CLI is now Ascott’s biggest developer-partner in the Philippines.
Both firms have entered into a partnership agreement for Citadines Cebu, Davao and Bacolod, lyf in Cebu and are exploring other potential areas in the VisMin.
“We are expanding our presence to Gensan, Butuan and Ormoc this year. That’s the beauty of Ascott partnering with CLI because we are really spread out in the key growth cities in VisMin,” Soberano said.
At present, CLI has 800 rooms that will be managed by Ascott but the company plans to double the number of rooms by 2022.
Citadines Cebu City, the firms’ first project and the first branded serviced apartment in Cebu that caters to both short and long-stay clients, is opening this summer.
The Ascott Group has seven brands and now has over 100,000 rooms globally. (FREEMAN)