Hotel sector booming in Clark Freeport

Hotels at the Clark Freeport in Pampanga have continued to expand aggressively, investing in new rooms and facilities to help transform the former American military facility into one of the best tourist destinations in the country today.

In a statement, Clark Development Corp. disclosed that Widus Hotel and Casino was investing another P200 million to expand its facilities next year, following a P2-billion expansion project completed in 2013.

The Fontana Hot Springs and Leisure Parks, which offers an array of amenities such as golf courses, hot spring, water theme park, tennis and basketball courts and choice restaurants, health and spa facilities, has spent P500 million to upgrade its 1,500-seater hall. This was used for the First Senior Officials Meeting of Pacific Rim officials held in January this year.

As it is, more than P2 billion have been spent in the improvements and renovations at Fontana.

The Oxford Hotel also invested an initial P200 million to renovate facilities for the SOM1 meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) member states.

The Mimosa Leisure Estate (Mimosa), where Holiday Inn is located, is now up for privatization wherein the minimum bid for the estate is pegged at P800 million while investments to be committed should be at least P5 billion.