BIZ BUZZ: Pulchra Resort to shut down

After nearly three decades of offering luxury accommodations designed to rival all-villa beach resorts in Langkawi, Bali and Phuket, Japanese-owned Pulchra Resort is bowing out of the Cebu tourism scene at a time when the market is rebounding nicely from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pulchra (“beautiful” in Latin), one of the forerunners of villa tourism in the country when it opened in 1996, will shut down by Feb. 5.

“In light of the current state of industrialization in the San Fernando area, where the resort is located, we have realized that it will be difficult to continue providing ‘beauty’ based on our concepts of ‘nature, wellness and simplicity,’ thus arriving [at] this difficult decision,” the management said.

READ: Fontana shuttered anew over unpaid obligations

Old-timers recall that when the resort opened in 1996, it pioneered not only an all-villa with private pool but a no-TV concept, putting emphasis on the appreciation of nature while on vacation—a bold concept then of being unplugged or “disconnected” that catered to a niche discerning market.

The management supported shoreline conservation and restoration with an in-house artificial reef project, fish feeding, creek maintenance and expansion and mangrove reforestation, among others.

Our sources noted that in the past years, Pulchra was able to coexist and even complement the operations of two cement factories in the vicinity because a 5-kilometer distance had been established from each factory from north to south. The host, Barangay San Isidro, was designated as a tourism area.

“Until just recently after the pandemic, the once-thriving mangrove area and marine sanctuary beside the resort has been issued an ECC (environmental compliance certificate) to be converted into an oil depot,” a well-placed hotel industry source told Biz Buzz. “Beside the once tranquil Spa Villas now have been used as berthing of oil tankers.”

It’s “death to a tourism pioneer for a birth of industrialization,” one Pulchra old-timer lamented. —Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

Alabang Club fee hike deemed inevitable

Some members of Alabang Country Club Inc. earlier expressed their stiff opposition to the 40-percent hike in the monthly dues from P5,000 to P7,000 a month effective this month.

But according to the management and directors, such an increase is more than justified.

For one thing, this is the first increase since 2019, when the monthly dues were hiked from P3,500 to P5,000. And even at P7,000 a month, the dues are still much lower than the P12,800 a month for Sta. Elena, P12,300 for Wack-Wack, P12,000 for Manila Golf and at par with Manila Polo Club.

They also said in the information sheet sent to the members that the increase was needed to undertake major repairs and rehabilitation, maintenance and upgrade of the 46-year-old club, and to continue the long-held practice of not charging the members and their dependents for the use of the club facilities.

There was a time when the revenues were propped up by the transfer and processing fees from the sale and assignment of club shares. But then this revenue stream had been declining over the past years and projected to drop by another 20 percent this year, mainly because there are hardly any sellers of shares.

Bottom line is that the fee hike is seen needed to bankroll major projects and keep it going at a high standard for the benefit of the members.

Will these points be enough to satisfy disgruntled members? Abangan! —Tina Arceo-Dumlao