PHA, Dusit team up on Puerto Princesa tourism project

Tourists are shown going out of the Puerto Princesa Subterrarean River National Park located in Puerto Princesa on the western Philippine island of Palawan.

A unit of investment holding firm Premiere Horizon Alliance Corp. (PHA) is collaborating with Thai hospitality group Dusit to develop hotels in its tourism estate project in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

Through subsidiary West Palawan Premiere Development Corp. (WPPDC), the group recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dusit Group for potential participation and partnership in the tourism development.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, PHA said the Dusit Group would look at the possibility of establishing its three hotel brands – Dusit Thani, Dusit D2 and Dusit Princess – in the area and lending its technical expertise given its track record in global resorts development.

In addition, the disclosure said the Dusit Group was exploring the possibility of providing equity for the first integrated master-planned development pod of WPPDC, the 100-hectare North Cove Development (NCDC).

The North Cove is part of the seven development pods of the masterplan for WPPDC’s township project that was drawn up by American engineering firm AECOM. Envisioned to be the first eco-tourism estate in Puerto Princesa city featuring both beachfront and mountainside residential and leisure offerings, the development is only a 40-minute drive from the new Puerto Princesa International Airport.

WPPDC chair Augusto Antonio Serafica Jr. expressed optimism on the project, noting that the country’s robust growth would be supportive of growth in the tourism and property sectors. “The market continues to be strong. We believe this will be an excellent partnership that will enable us to build an outstanding mixed-use township that will offer various lifestyle choices to our target markets”, he said.

PHA, which currently owns 85 percent of WPPDC, has stated early this year that its strategic focus would be on infrastructure and tourism development supporting the Duterte administration’s thrust on sustained countryside development.

After two decades of operating a lone hotel in Makati, Dusit recently unveiled plans to expand its footprint in the Philippine hospitality industry with a pipeline of new hotels that could quadruple its local portfolio to over 2,000 rooms in three years’ time.

Founded in 1948, Dusit International currently operates 29 properties worldwide and has over 50 projects in the pipeline globally.