ShareThisGovernor says province needs more resort hotels, good chefs
LEGAZPI CITY – The flourishing tourism industry of Albay province calls for new resort hotels to accommodate rapid increases in arrivals and good chefs for local restaurants that need to increase their servings, according to Governor Joey Salceda.
“My first wish from our private sector partners is new hotel resorts to address the need for new rooms. My second wish is for owners of restaurants to please hire new chefs and level up their menus and indulge in ingredients,” Salceda said, as the province prepares for this year’s grand celebration of the Daragang Magayon Festival.
The Daragang Magayon Festival 2013 on April 1-30 will serve as Albay’s cultural epiphany as the new tourism giant of Luzon.
The province is expected to further perk up following the successful staging recently of Albay’s ballet epic Daragang Magayon: An Istorya ni Mayon at the Cultural Center of the Philippines main theatre, which drew superlative reviews from critics and a mixed crowd of celebrities.
The province was also featured as the Philippines Pavilion’s highlight destination at the 2013 Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB)-Berlin, the world’s leading yearly travel trade held in Berlin, Germany last March 6-10.
“We are now being marketed abroad, so we will not disappoint our visitors. Albayanos are a great people, so we show visitors what we got and they will come back again and again,” Salceda said.
With high investment spending in tourism promotion and holding of festivals, Albay became last year’s top tourist hub in Bicol with over a half a million foreign tourist arrivals, which brought in 49-percent growth rate in local tourism, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
Salceda said the 49-percent tourists’ arrival growth for Albay last year was further bolstered by advertising collaterals published in magazines and newspapers, and aired in broadcast outlets—including the social media.
A recent survey of Cebu Pacific Airlines said Daragang Magayon Festival had a 14.7-percent market share among Philippine festivals, coming third to Sinulog and Bangus festivals.
Salceda expects to sustain, if not surpass, the 2012 performance due to aggressive foreign reintroduction and closer collaboration with key tourism stakeholders.
“To sustain and step up such growth, new hotels should be a destination in itself. Thus far, we have commitments for 450 rooms (3-5 star) with investment cost of P1.2 billion. But, the current capacity of 3,000 of Albay and 1,000 each for Sorsogon and Masbate or 5,000 cannot attract or accommodate a quadrupling to one million foreign tourists by 2017,” he said.
Sorsogon and Masbate are part of the Catanduanes-Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon (CALMASOR), a tourism alliance recently organized by Salceda as chair of the Regional Development Council that clusters the four Bicol southeastern-most provinces as the “Soul of the South” of the country’s tourism industry.
Salceda said the alliance was initiated to ensure a stronger and more cohesive promotional campaign among the four provinces, which all possess inherent world-class tourism potentials.
For restaurant owners, the governor said: “I like many of them, especially Boklan, Ocean Villa, La Roca, the favorite of my childhood—Legazpi Restaurant, but I want them to be better for the influx of tourists.”
“You see, excellent food will inspire happy memories which will not only make them come back but will also make them spread through word-of-mouth good feedback, thus make more tourists come. Warm people is okay, but it is more okay if it comes with warm soup also, Warm Albay,” he stressed.