MANILA -- Property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) on Tuesday signed a management deal with The Ascott Limited to develop the first hotel in Bacolod City carrying an international brand, as it banks on the growth of the tourism industry.
The 200-room Citadines Bacolod serviced residence is CLI's fourth project with the world's leading service residence operator and is expected to boost the Cebu-based developer’s hotel portfolio to 969 rooms.
"Our growth in this city -- and in the rest of VisMin (Visayas-Mindanao) -- will hinge on tourism as well as the IT-BPM (information technology/business process management) industry -- both drivers of the region’s economy,” CLI president Jose Soberano III said in a disclosure to the local bourse.
Aside from the tourism industry, Soberano also noted the potential to cater the M.I.C.E (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibits) market in Bacolod.
He said the company expects the property to be the leading provider of accommodations in the area when it opens.
Construction of Citadines Bacolod on 4,501-square-meter lot along Lacson Street will start by the last quarter of this year. It is targeted to open by 2021.
CLI’s optimism is further supported by the city government's plan to build more tourism infrastructure and mount projects such as a coastal boulevard, Sum-ag river development, and the Bacolod nature park.
Arthur Gindap, The Ascott Limited Regional General Manager for the Philippines and Thailand, said "with its track record and deep knowledge of the VisMin market, we are happy to partner with them again for our fourth serviced residence project, and our first in Bacolod City." (PNA)
