More direct flights from neighboring Asian countries. More cruise ships docking at its port. More investors to build bigger hotels. More tourist-centric activity development around the Underground River complex. In essence, that is what the paradise city of Puerto Princesa is gearing up for in 2018 to attract more tourists and perk up its flourishing economy.
As early as September 2017, Puerto Princesa has been looking forward and preparing for bigger tasks ahead—welcoming the surge of tourists for the coming year. For December alone, it played host to a number of Chinese travel operators assisted by a consul general, hoping to cash in on the boom.
The move is to take advantage of the influx of Chinese travelers that is wildly spreading across Asia, and to help increase further the Philippines’s current 79-percent growth rate, the fastest-growing Asian market for Chinese visitors.
Similarly, the city tourism council, headed by Aileen Maggay-Amurao, has been holding back-to-back preparatory meetings for the maiden call of Star Legend, the 16th cruise ship to dock in Puerto Princesa come January 13.
Likewise, it is also laying the groundwork for a tourism milestone, the launching of direct flights between Xiamen and Puerto Princesa for the celebration of Chinese New Year on February 16. The auspicious start augurs well for the city’s
ambitious plan of surpassing its tourist-arrival target for the coming year. Two cruise ships, L’Austral and Silver Shadow, came back to
Puerto Princesa in October, bolstering its “Cruise Ship Capital of the Philippines” title.
The Star Legend is one of the world’s most luxurious cruise ships, making you feel like you’re on your own private yacht almost as soon as you step onboard. Each spacious sitting area of the newly refurbished luxury liner also gives one an expansive view of the ocean, making it a real treat.
Movie buffs will also recognize the ship for its big on-screen role in the movie Speed 2: Cruise Control. It has a cruising speed of 15 knots and carries a total of 153 international staff, including Filipinos.
Meanwhile, the China International Travel Service (CITS), China’s state-owned leisure and tourism group based in Beijing sent its appreciation to the city government for paving the way for direct chartered flights from Xiamen to Puerto Princesa on February 10, 14 and 18 via Philippine Airlines, as announced on November 27. The city is also working for additional direct flights from other airlines, notably those from Taiwan, Korea, Brunei Darussalam and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries.
Although for a limited time only, further direct flights from China to Puerto Princesa will continue if everything goes well, especially during the summer season (July to August), the CITS declared. PAL, Cebu-Pacific, China Southern and Xiamen airlines currently flies direct to Manila regularly.
PAL has restored growth in the China market that was cut in 2014 and has added Xiamen to its destinations. Since then, the growth is now nearly twice the size of its three largest competitors, who all operate approximately 3,000 weekly seats to China. While other state-owned Chinese airlines have not grown significantly in the last two years, it was noted that the market share could rapidly change in the future, given Xiamen Airlines’ current good performance.
Cruise-ship capital
Because it is closer to most Asian cities and relatively free from earthquakes, Puerto Princesa earned the “Cruise ship capital of the Philippines.” The financial and capital city of Palawan has welcomed almost a million or more foreign tourists from world-renowned luxury ships over a three-year period.
Some them are as follows: Superstar Aquarius, Costa Victoria, Caledonian Sky, Azamara Quest, Albatross, Seabourn Sojourn, Legend of the Seas, Pacific Venus, Europa, Bremen, L’Austral, Le Soleal, Hamburg, Artania, Queen Elizabeth and Silver Shadow.
In August 22, 2015, November 6, and 24 of same year, the world-renowned Royal Caribbean chip Legend of the Seas docked in the city port and brought a total of 16,800 passengers and 6,600 crew.
Can Puerto Princesa reach 2 million tourists in 2018? “I think we can but we are not yet ready,” Amurao said. According to Amurao, facilities are still not in place and there is a dire need for more hotels, restaurants and to provide more tourist-centric activities. “We also need to attract more investors,” she stressed.
Amurao added that the city will continue to vigorously push to promote World Heritage Site and One of New Seven
Wonders of Nature Underground River, and that includes long-term plans to develop other tourism sites to attract more domestic and foreign tourists to the city.
City Tourism Office data showed that the United States had the highest number of tourists that visited the city, with 45,482 arrivals last year, followed by Taiwanese and Korean nationals. Occupying fourth was China, and fifth was the United Kingdom. The Palawan Provincial Tourism Office, however, recorded a total of 1,162,439 foreign and domestic tourists, representing a 15-percent increase from the previous year. China has since dislodged the US from No. 2 position in total Philippine tourist arrival charts with Korea still at the top.
In terms of volume and share of visitor arrivals by airport, Puerto Princesa ranked fifth, together with Davao, from statistics provided by the Department of Tourism for the January to August 2017 period.
Master plan for new tourist attractions
As these developed, the city government’s planning office is laying out a blueprint to create additional attractions around the Puerto Princesa Underground River complex to accommodate more tourists flying to the city, subject to public consultations and approval of the City Development Council.
The policy of limiting the number of visitors to the Underground River has become a deterrent in luring more tourists to the famous site. Currently, the Underground River management allows only 1,000 visitors a day. The demand doubles during peak season, and local tourism industry observers say that if it wants its tourism to grow, the city government must address the site’s carrying capacity issue.
The limit to the number of visitors is due to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization guidelines to ensure proper conservation of the World Heritage Site.
Puerto Princesa posted a 21-percent growth rate in 2012 when the Underground River was chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. The implementation of capacity limit caused its growth rate to decrease. Tourists who visited Puerto Princesa, however, rose from 426,593 in 2010 to 856,764 last year.
While the Underground River is the most stunning jewel in Puerto Princesa’s tourism crown, there are other equally sparkling gems to see in the city that prides itself as “where nature begins and never ends” rebranding.
There is the largely undiscovered Napsan Beach and numerous places the jaded tourists haven’t totally explored: Magnificent Acacia Tunnel, Jungle Trail, Sabang Falls, Isla Filomena Diving and Snorkeling site, Hundred, Daylight Hole and Wonderground Caves, Palawan Battalion War Memorial Museum, “Butanding” and Firefly Watching attractions of Honda Bay, Iwahig and Irawan Rivers, Cockatoo Bird Watching and nature-tripping at Aventura Resort and Microtel Wyndham Resort Hotel in Canigaran Beach.
Plus, of course, there are the good-old Butterfly Garden, Palawan Cherry Blossom trees, Crocodile Farm, Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Plaza Kuartel, Iwahig Penal Colony Farms, City Wet Market, Vietville Restaurant, islands in Honda Bay and the charming “nature city” as a whole.
There are also new hotels that have sprouted in the city, testament to its bullishness among investors, notably the Best Western Ivywall, Hue Hotels, Canvas Boutique and Ai World Park Resort hotels, among others.
3 comments
All the while our city stays flooded because the city has no viable plan for drainage.
Now the floods will carry away the trash that has not been picked up.
Go figure!!!
Perhaps its time to build waste water treatment plant and waste incinerators.
I hope all stakeholders will work hand in hand and have the brains to carry out the ambitious plan.