Tourism industry expects to exceed target this year

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine tourism industry is looking at exceeding its target for 2009, based on the uptrend of tourists arrivals in the last eight months, despite several negative factors that threatened the industry’s growth for the year.

Tourism secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano said in an interview that from expecting a zero to only two percent growth for this year, the Philippines may hit at least six percent growth towards the end of this year or even higher.

“If the trend in the first six months would continue, and the economy of our major markets indeed wills recovery, we should see good growth figures for this year,” Durano said.

From January to June this year, the country’s foreign tourists’ arrivals hit a surprising six percent growth, compared to the same period in 2008. In the first quarter of 2009, foreign visitors’ arrival registered at 1.633 million.

“We were expecting zero to two percent growth for this year, and even thought we will contract,” he said.

Durano said the country suffered from a dip in arrivals since last year as the global economic slowdown affected its major markets like Korea, Japan, the United States and Europe.

However, that emerging markets like China are somehow filling the slack. The department had earlier aimed at hitting the 5-million mark in foreign-tourist arrivals by 2010.

In 2008 the country first breached the 3-million mark with less than 2-percent growth.

Moreover, he said that it is good to note that the country registered a total eight million consolidated arrivals in the country’s top 15 destinations. This is a 16 percent improvement from last year.

Domestic tourism also increased by 20 percent, mostly based on the monitoring in the top destinations in the country.

DOT figure showed that Cebu is the second most visited tourist destination with 830,599 visitors, claiming 23 percent share of total arrivals.

Cebu continues to be the top destination for foreign tourists with 321,116 in the first semester.

The expansion in air access from major tourist markets, including the new charter flights from Incheon, Busan, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Kaohsiung as well as increase in room supply, aggressive promotion, public and private sector partnership to diversify the tourism products greatly contributed to the hike in visitor volume to Cebu.

Other destinations in the country aside from Cebu, that helped pulled up the tourism arrivals both foreign and domestic, include; Camarines Sur, Boracay, Baguio, Davao, Puerto Galera, Bohol, Negro Occidental, Negros Oriental, Ilocos Norte, Masbate, Camarines Norte, Puerto Princesa, Legaspi, Catanduanes, and Sorsogon.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

Thriving tourism spurs new business prospects

CEBU, Philippines - The thriving tourism industry in the country and in Cebu in particular, has not only benefited a lot of sectors but has also given birth to new business prospects, one of which is the “Albert’s House with Car” business.

Cebuano entrepreneur Alberto Francisco came up with a new kind of accommodation service that provides homey comfort to guests at the same time providing them with their own transportation service while in the city.

Francisco started the business four months ago and has since then enjoyed a positive response from clients.

He said that the idea came about as he thought that while some big hotels provide their guests with a shuttle service, small hotels where budget conscious travelers often stay do not offer transportation service, which would often prompt guests to take the taxi or public utility vehicles in going around the city.

Francisco said renting a place at the same time spending so much on transportation could be such a burden for visitors, thus the birth of his business.

For P4,800, the package already includes the rental of a two-bedroom unit house plus a car and a driver. This is good for four people, plus a P500 charge for every additional head.

Also available is the three-bedroom unit house that can accommodate a maximum of six persons at a rate of only P5,600 per day.

He said that this is much more cheaper than paying for hotel accommodations and also putting aside money for taxi fares which is far more expensive considering the flag down rate of P30 compared to the available car which the customer would just have to pay P10 for every kilometer. A Toyota Avanza is used for all the packages.

The houses are fully furnished with appliances like television, refrigerator, air conditioning units, rice cooker, among others.

He said that the tourists would only need to buy their own grocery if they wish to dine in rather than dine out which again could help them save more.

The houses are found inside high-end subdivisions like Corona del Mar in Talisay City, Nicol’s Park in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City and even in Grand Europa in Cagayan de Oro City. This, according to Francisco ensures the safety of the things of their clients while they are out touring.

Francisco said that his business has been picking up since he started and he is optimistic of more tourists to avail of the service in the coming months.

Aside from Cebu City , Cagayan and even Davao City, Francisco said that he will soon expand in Camiguin Island , Camotes, Palawan and the rest of the provinces.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

RP needs 3-5 years to convert to all IT base service

CEBU, Philippines - While other countries are already operating through an all IT service, it would still take three to five years for the Philippines to fully embrace an all IT base service, which is the foundation in establishing a Barring of Outgoing International Calls (BOIC) network, said Ramon Isberto, public affairs group head of Smart Communications.

Isberto said it would still take a longer time for the Philippines since it is a new kind of system and it still needs to be studied. BOIC is a cellular supplementary service, that when invoked sets flags in the network databases to stop a subscriber making international calls.

“In the case of the Philippines , it will take a little longer and more work to do when it comes to facilities and familiarity of the whole thing.”

According to Isberto, through an all IT network, low costs would be possible and more services would be offered.

But he said that the conversion would not be easy and the procedures would need to be thoroughly experienced in order to have a smooth operation.

“We just don’t change the network, we need to learn how to run it and it will take a little bit longer and more work to do when it comes to the facilities,” he added.

However, he said that both the cable and the wireless services are moving toward this but said that there would be a gradual process in the conversion to an all IT base service. He said that the question is not on the government’s support for the conversion but on the training that needs to be gone through for the new service.

He said though that they could definitely offer more services with an all IT base service which helps them do such with lower costs.

This would help them strengthen their revenue streams as well as come up with new ones. He said that there are some pilot areas with IT places where they are testing this already.

“We need to make investments but we need to see that the investments are supported by revenues,” he added.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

SKY launches broadband service in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines - Widely known as a cable connection provider, SKY has expanded its range of services through introducing its SKYBroadband service in order to cater to the increasing number of internet users in the Philippines .

SKYBroadband service promises a distinct broadband service from other existing services with a 1.5Mbps up to 12 Mbps speed package for residential accounts.

Ronnie Pacio, SKY area director for Visayas said in an interview with The Freeman that they saw the need to develop value added services such as the SKYBroadband because the “cable industry is nearing its peak.”

He said that unlike before, there is not much growth in the number of houses and the need for cable connection though he said that they still have a lot of cable users.

Source: The Freeman Cebu

However, Pacio said that there is a greater internet demand and the need of the people for higher speed.

Pacio explained that common complaints of the public when it comes to internet connection are the speed and the reliability.

He said that at present, most residential broadband internet connection is only up to 3Mbps but for SKYBroadband, the connection starts at 1.5Mbps up to 12 Mbps. “SKY was able to answer the need of the people and now you can do more like multi-tasking without slowing the connection.”

Pacio said that they already have the ZPDee Broadband service but decided to upgrade and rebrand the service in order to accommodate the needs of internet users.

ZPDee customers with the 512 kbps will now be upgraded to the 1.5 mbps and higher.

The SKYBROADBAND was introduced to Luzon in the early part of this year but Pacio said that they needed to ensure everything would be okay first before they brought it to Cebu.

Pacio said that they still have a conservative target for this year for those who would avail of the service in Cebu since they are still trying it but they are optimistic of how the public would anticipate SKYBROADBAND since it raved good review in Manila where it was launched especially classes A and B market, which are their target customers.

Pacio said they have state-of-the-art technology that assures the high-speed connection for the users which would be at par with high speed broadband services offered abroad.

Aside from the new service, Pacio said that they are aiming to venture in to other value-added service and other innovations in order to cater more to the needs of their customers like going digital by next year.

He said that they will be coming up with improvements that would mean new technologies and facilities, which Pacio said is quite expensive, but will do so to continue offering quality services.

Pacio said that fortunately also, they were not affected with the global crisis and they did not lose their customers.

The SKYBroadband will be offered in four packages starting with the 1.5 Mbps package that goes for those who have SKYCABLE connections, which they will have a P175 discount. The package is offered at P1, 199 monthly subscription fee. The next package is the 3 Mbps package with a monthly subscription fee of P2,499.

The Plan 6 Mbps offered at P4,999 and the Plan 12 Mbps at P6,999 includes free installation, free modem and a free SkyCable subscription.

Pacio said that they have identified some areas where the SKYBroadband would initially be available in the city like in Banilad, Talamban, Capitol Site, Guadalupe, and in Mandaue city and Consolacion.

ATMCI: Wealth of experience in project management

CEBU, Philippines - One sector that has continued to grow despite the global financial crisis is the construction industry and evidence of that are the many projects that you can see sprouting in various areas around Metro Cebu.

With millions, sometimes a few billions of pesos spent to build these projects, investors tap a group of project managers to ensure that what they want can be done within the budget and following the quality standards that they have set.

One firm that specializes in such business is Asian Technicon Managers and Consultants, a Manila-based company that has 20 years experience in handling various construction projects around the country.

While we stereotype those involved in the business a male, at the helm of ATMC Inc. is Archt. Lily Pio Roda, the company president.

In an exclusive interview with The Freeman, she said that she and many of those who joined her when the company started used to work for the Ayala Group. It was after they completed the project in Brunei, including the construction of the palace, that she asked permission to leave the company and form her own.

Fast forward to 20 years hence, the company has been involved in the construction of various projects in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon and lately also in Cebu.

“Our first project in Cebu was Persimmon tower 1, which we started in June 2008,” she said. The project is nearing its full completion and a second tower is scheduled to be built.

Currently, their company is also managing the Insular Life Tower project inside the Cebu Business Park.

“Our role is to represent the owner in the projects and oversee the completion.”

To be more specific, as project managers ATMCI assigns a resident manager to each of its projects. The company makes sure that the projects are within budget and that the contractors would strictly follow the requirements set by the designers and architects.

It may seem like spending other people’s money, by Mrs. Pio Roda said, that “it’s not that easy.”

“We are answerable to the owners, so if there is a problem we have to solve it.”

She added, “Our major concerns are time, cost and quality.”

All the key personnel of ATMCI in Cebu right now come from their head office in Manila where they have about 200 employees.

“We hire locals also to help out our staff from Manila and in the process they also get trained about how things are done.”

Mrs. Pio Roda regularly visits the various construction sites. In Metro Manila alone, their company is managing 21 projects.

ATMCI is truly an answer to the call of the construction industry for an independent that will act as orchestrator among project participants.

Source: The Freeman Cebu