Philippines tourism gets big boost from Pagcor move

The Philippines tourism industry has received a much-needed shot in the arm after the state-run gaming regulator passed a new rule requiring investors in its planned Entertainment City complex to set up a minimum number of hotel rooms as part of their contracts in the project.

Under the new guidelines approved by the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the four major partners in the $4-billion project will be required to build at least 800 hotel rooms each—for a total of 3,200 rooms—before they will be allowed to open casino operations at the site, which is being touted as the country’s answer to the gambling mecca of Macau.

The four licensees include Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., which is a joint venture between Genting Hong Kong and Alliance Global Inc.; the SM group; Bloomsbury Investments, and Japan’s Aruze Corp.

According to Pagcor, the new rule was meant to ensure that adequate hotel facilities would be available to accommodate the influx of tourists that would flock to the “integrated tourism development”.

“The new guidelines aim to rationalize the development framework for the Entertainment City Manila,” Pagcor Chair Cristino L. Naguiat Jr. said in a statement. “Collectively, the four proponents have committed to invest a minimum of $4 billion to build a world-class destination, which will serve as a springboard for tourists to discover the rest of the Philippines.”

Pagcor’s move to boost the number of hotel rooms in the country was lauded by Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim, who expressed hopes that the Entertainment City project would provide the “much-needed resurgence in investments in tourism projects.”

Building boom

“There will be a massive hotel building boom that will create 3,200 new hotel rooms that easily can accommodate [as many as] one million tourists annually,” he said, predicting that tourism revenues would also increase correspondingly as the country attracts more visitors from “high-value markets.”

At the same time, Pagcor expects the project—which will rise on a 90-hectare stretch of reclaimed land along Manila Bay—to generate as many as 100,000 tourism-related jobs over the next five years.

Also known as the “Bagong Nayong Pilipino” complex, the project was first conceptualized in 2007 by the previous administration. It was initially planned to draw in as much as $20 billion in investments, but was scaled down to $15 billion when it was officially launched a year later.

According to sources, the new Pagcor leadership has further trimmed down the expected investment value of the Entertainment City to reflect “more realistic numbers” given the global financial environment at present.

Apart from the planned casino-themed resorts and hotels, the complex will also house shopping malls and commercial establishments as well as high-end residential developments, Pagcor said.