WHAT was supposed to be an international trade show for real estate turned out differently: Philippine impoverishment became the show itself.

“A tourist attraction”— that was how an exhibitor of furniture from Sweden pictured the state of poverty in the country during the Asia International Real Estate Expo and Conference, which concluded Monday.

Susan Barlin, Department of Tourism special envoy for investment and promotions, is, therefore, in dialogue with several real-estate developers abroad to urge them to invest in the country.

“It takes an entrepreneurial mind to design ways to alleviate poverty,” she told a BusinessMirror roundtable Tuesday, pointing out that the country needs to accommodate the global demands.

Barlin, who has invested second homes in Europe and the United States, sees a big market in long-stay tourists—people who are 65 years or older—in the Philippines, estimating a total market size of more than 83 million individuals.

Forty-five million people will come from the United States, 20 million from Europe, almost 4 million from Canada, and 15 million from Asia, which includes South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan.

The target market is worth $42 billion, noted Barlin.

Another market, she said, is the baby boomers, or those who are born between 1946 and 1964. “They are the ones moving toward retirement. The boomers generation has seen the greatest wealth transfer from one generation to the next,” she said.

Barlin added that baby boomers believe in the advancement of health care in the Philippines.

On a par with the Philippines with regard to cheap vacation sites are Panama, Costa Rica and Thailand. “Our only edge: overseas Filipino workers can do cross-promotions of vacation properties in the Philippines and abroad,” Barlin said.

Anthony Macaluso, a realtor of the Florida-based Portside Properties Inc., said global real-estate market is so vast that local property companies need not fret.

As Barlin put it, the ballgame is about collaboration between the local and foreign real-estate companies. “They can share advanced innovative real-estate products to help clients enjoy retirement or holidays,” she said.

THE National Agriculture and Fisheries Council Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFC-CFA) has endorsed the creation of a task force that will look into the just compensation that should be received by fishermen who will be affected by an oil-drilling exploration in Tañon Strait in Cebu.

AGRARIAN Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman issued Thursday a status quo order directing San Miguel Foods Inc. (SMFI) to refrain from further undertaking development activities other than those now ongoing in the controversial 144-hectare farmland it bought from the Quisumbing family in Sumilao, Bukidnon, pending resolution of the case.

WHAT was supposed to be an international trade show for real estate turned out differently: Philippine impoverishment became the show itself.

CITY OF MALOLOS—Finally, Bulakeños may quench their thirst with water from the very source Metro Manilans get theirs.

THE Global Crop Diversity Trust (GCDT) has committed to set aside $8 million to help conserve and distribute germplasm or seeds in the gene bank of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat).