22 February 2006
Taipans put in P5B to get 5M tourists in 5 years
THE country’s taipans are leading a business offensive aimed at hitting the private sector’s “singko-singko” goal and propelling Philippine tourism to its golden age.
Their “5-5-5-5-5” target: To invest $5 billion to bring in 5 million tourists that would generate $5 billion in revenues and 5 million jobs in 5 years.
Marketing whiz Samie Lim said the country’s billionaires were buying new planes and ships, erecting new malls and hotels, and building word-class resorts and casinos, confident that tourism would be the next big thing in the Philippine economy. Taipan Lucio Tan is leading the pack with the $814 million reflecting program of Philippine Airlines and is spending a few billion pesos more to mark his entry into the shopping mall business (his Allied Bank has foreclosed on the Ever Gotesco properties).
Retail magnate Henry Sy’s gigantic P7 billion Mall of Asia off Manila Bay is being positioned as a major tourist destination not only for its world-class shopping facilities but also for its terminal that will have ferries carrying tourists to sites along the coastline.
Flush with cash from a stock offering last year, Sy is also building Hamilo Cove, a 5,200-hectare seaside property in Nasugbu, Batangas, as his flagship business in tourism and leisure.
Taipan John Gokongwei is pouring in $670 million to reflect Cebu Pacific, in tandem with the expansion of his hotel empire (Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza).
Metrobank’s George Ty has quietly moved in with an initial P500 million investment in Cebu. Through the family’s property arm, Federal Land Inc., Ty will reopen the shuttered Cebu Plaza Hotel in partnership with the Marcho Polo hotel chain.
Their “5-5-5-5-5” target: To invest $5 billion to bring in 5 million tourists that would generate $5 billion in revenues and 5 million jobs in 5 years.
Marketing whiz Samie Lim said the country’s billionaires were buying new planes and ships, erecting new malls and hotels, and building word-class resorts and casinos, confident that tourism would be the next big thing in the Philippine economy. Taipan Lucio Tan is leading the pack with the $814 million reflecting program of Philippine Airlines and is spending a few billion pesos more to mark his entry into the shopping mall business (his Allied Bank has foreclosed on the Ever Gotesco properties).
Retail magnate Henry Sy’s gigantic P7 billion Mall of Asia off Manila Bay is being positioned as a major tourist destination not only for its world-class shopping facilities but also for its terminal that will have ferries carrying tourists to sites along the coastline.
Flush with cash from a stock offering last year, Sy is also building Hamilo Cove, a 5,200-hectare seaside property in Nasugbu, Batangas, as his flagship business in tourism and leisure.
Taipan John Gokongwei is pouring in $670 million to reflect Cebu Pacific, in tandem with the expansion of his hotel empire (Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza).
Metrobank’s George Ty has quietly moved in with an initial P500 million investment in Cebu. Through the family’s property arm, Federal Land Inc., Ty will reopen the shuttered Cebu Plaza Hotel in partnership with the Marcho Polo hotel chain.
