PHILIPPINE real estate developer Megaworld Properties Inc has announced plans to build five luxury hotels totalling 2,000 keys as part of its Mactan Newtown expansion plan in Lapu Lapu City, Cebu.
Megaworld plans to complete the first two hotels in the pipeline, which are own-brand properties – the Mactan Belmont Luxury Hotel and Savoy Hotel Mactan – within five years, while two local beachfront hotels will take the place of the existing Portofino Beach Resort facing Olango Island, a major bird-watching attraction in the area and a mangrove sanctuary.
The fifth property will be an international brand.
Megaworld’s announcement comes after last month’s news that the long-overdue awarding of the passenger terminal expansion contract for Mactan Cebu International Airport. When works are completed, some eight million passengers yearly would be comfortably accommodated, up from 4.5 million now.
Pointing out that the current airport facilities are hampering the destination’s image, Marget Villarica, president, Cebu Association of Tour Operators, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “Once we have better facilities at the airport, this will provide encouragement for more foreign investors to come in.”
She also hoped investments would expand as inbound operators move to promote more attractions outside the city, north towards Bantayan and Malapascua, and south towards Oslob.
Villarica urged: “There aren’t too many beach resorts in the countryside. We need more investors to build resorts.”
In Oslob, site of early morning butanding (whale shark) watching, and a 2.5-hour drive from Cebu City, only Bluewater Sumilon Island Resort offers top-level accommodations, while the rest are economy-level inns, so “operators would have to look to Moalboal, which is another hour away,” she explained.
