Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo / Special to the BusinessMirror
THE Duterte administration will spend an estimated P6 billion until 2022 to improve port facilities across the country in a bid to attract more tourists who travel on international cruise lines.
According to the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) of 2016-2022, a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is expected to beef up port facilities with some P1.9 billion in funds for this year alone.
Better port facilities will enable the Department of Tourism (DOT), which drew up the tourism road map, to hopefully encourage the port call of 402 ships with 456,164 passengers by 2022, from 56 ship calls ferrying 47,098 passengers in 2016. This year the DOT projects 75 port calls to be made by cruise ships carrying 68,763 passengers.
The investment of the DOTr will help “develop an international cruise port and marina in Manila, [and] improve ports in Romblon, Coron, El Nido, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Iloilo”. Also, the cruise-tourism strategy of the DOT aims to “develop the Turquoise and North Triangles”, which covers Manila-Boracay-Puerto Princesa, and Currimao (Ilocos Norte)/Salomague (Ilocos Sur)-Cagayan-Batanes.
The strategy will also involve the improvement of ferry services between Cebu and Bohol, Batangas and Mindoro, as well as Misamis Oriental and Camiguin—all considered prime tourist destinations in the country. The DOT, likewise, eyes the simplification of port immigration and quarantine policies for cruise tourists.
During the recent Asian Cruise Dialogue held in conjunction with the Asean Tourism Forum in Singapore, Paul Chong, vice president for Business Development of Carnival Cruises Corp., noted the Philippines has “great potential in becoming one of Asia’s important cruise hubs” primarily because of its strategic location. Chong met with Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo, who presented to him the idea of port calls by Carnival’s 101 ships in Cebu, Boracay, Palawan, Manila, Davao and Subic.
Chong said Carnival Cruises, reputed to be the largest cruise company in the world, already made an ocular inspection of Palawan in 2015, but concluded that “the province is not yet ready” for the thousands of cruise passengers that will disembark from their luxury liners. He promised, however, to look into the other provinces and islands that Teo endorsed.
The DOT chief admitted: “It will be a big challenge [to attract cruise companies] because there is still so much to be done. All these promotion efforts won’t prosper if there is no government cooperation, investment in cruise infrastructure, and backing from the private sector in terms of land-side tourism support, such as tours, guides, coaches and venues, to increase passenger satisfaction. But we have to do it. The Philippines will make the most of cruise tourism being one of the most successful sectors in the tourism industry.” Teo also met with Genting Hong Kong executives to encourage more homeporting of their 21 vessels in addition to the SuperStar Virgo’s scheduled homeporting in Manila on March 19, the first global cruise line to do so.
The 2,000-capacity vessel will complete a 15-week cruise from Manila-Laoag-Kaohsiung (Taiwan)-Hong Kong and back to Manila, which is projected to bring in some 50,000 international visitors to the Philippines. Genting Hong Kong is a leading global leisure, entertainment and hospitality corporation, which wholly owns Star Cruises.
Banking on planned tourism infrastructure as envisioned in the NTDP, Teo also noted the need to ready the islands for the arrival of these big ships as only Manila, Puerto Princesa, Cebu and Subic Bay have ports suitable for the docking of large cruise vessels.
She said the ports of Boracay, Coron, Bohol and Poro Point in La Union, while offering breath-taking views, can only accommodate midsized ships. On the other hand, only small vessels can dock in the ports of Salamogue, Currimao, Hundred Islands (Pangasinan) and Kalanggaman Island (Leyte).
“But our Cruise Tourism Roadmap is already in place and I am confident that we will get the full support of the different government agencies on this initiative and see the launching of several new cruise ports under the Duterte administration,” Teo stressed.
1 comment
Fake News!!! Large Cruise Ships can dock in Hundred Islands Alaminos City Pangasinan. The city is hosting large cruise ship vessels year after year. Please do your research!
DOT and Sec Teo what a shame!!!