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Friday, January 24, 2003
Shangri-la to upgrade facilities for P356M
By Cherry T. Lim
SHANGRI-LA’S Mactan Island Resort will spend P356 million ($6.6 million) this year to upgrade its facilities.
This comes as the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 reported an improvement in Central Visayas tourism in the first 11 months of last year.
Desmond Hatton, general manager of Shangri-la, said a major renovation would take place, which would involve all the resort’s 361 rooms.
The renovation will be done in three phases, with the first batch to be finished by the end of April, he said.
The meeting rooms, health club and other facilities like Cowrie Cove restaurant would also be refurbished, he said in a meeting with the media last Tuesday.
In addition, the resort is creating a spa village.
We’ve been the market leader here for years, and we’ll continue to invest here,” he said. “Shangri-la is very confident about this destination.”
New hotels
The hotel and resort chain is also optimistic about prospects for the world economy, slating the opening of 22 new hotels in the next few years.
And its optimism may be well found, at least as far as Central Visayas is concerned.
According to a report from the DOT 7, the number of foreign travelers who visited the region grew nearly 30 percent to 19,777 last November alone.
As a result, foreign tourist arrivals to the region grew 3.50 percent
in the first 11 months of last year.
Foreign tourist arrivals have been growing since July, when the number of foreign tourists to Central Visayas grew 10.38 percent. In August, foreign tourism grew 18.28 percent; September, 11.85 percent; and October, a mighty 74 percent.
Japan accounted for the bulk or 30 percent of the foreign tourist arrivals in the 11-month period, followed by Korea with 22 percent, and the Unites States with 10 percent.
The DOT 7 said the number of domestic travelers also rose 4.19 percent in November to 46,749, and 0.10 percent to 501,611 in the first 11 months of last year.
(January 24, 2003 issue)
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