A FEW years ago, the Philippines was considered a minor tourist stop in the world stage. Today, it has emerged as a major global destination and nothing illustrates this more vividly than the robust activity and improved living standards in Lio Tourism Estate and its environs in El Nido Town in Northern Palawan.
Joey Bernardino, marketing director of the AyalaLand subsidiary Ten Knots Development Corp., relates that the hotels in the area now numbering five—enjoy brisk business throughout the year. The four top-end island resorts that carry the El Nido Resorts brand, Seda Lio hotel, and the five boutique resorts in the mainland are favored by guests from the United States, Spain, France, Israel, among other countries. Ten Knots is the owner and developer of the 325-hectare estate and nine of the 10 hotel properties.
Better yet, the resorts all enjoy a high repeat guest rate owing to the genuinely warm service of the estimated 600 hotel and estate employees, 80 percent of whom are from Palawan. “We understand the importance of building a strong relationship with the local community and this begins with employing as many local residents as possible,” according to Bernardino.
With gainful employment in a booming industry, the standard of living of the employees and their families has improved. All employees receive government-mandated benefits and more—including seeking medical attention in the cities when needed. Children of deserving employees may avail themselves of college scholarships. In fact, a number have opted to work side by side with their parents at the resorts after graduation.
Javi Hernandez, president of Ten Knots, observes that second-generation employees and low turnover rates in the resorts indicate the strong, positive impact of tourism estate development as practiced by Ten Knots and its mother company, AyalaLand Inc. (ALI) “While Lio Tourism Estate and our properties were created to capture tourism opportunities, AyalaLand’s larger goal is to assist in nation building.”
He said that since ground was broken on Lio estate commencing with the construction of roads, water and other systems, through the completion of the hotels now serving the estate today and those still in the blueprint stage, up to the time all these properties are operated, some 3,000 jobs will have been generated. This does not include the ancillary services and indirect jobs tourism has brought to this part of the El Nido municipality.
The local community has also benefited from AyalaLand’s efforts to include residents’ enterprises and services in the tourism estate’s supply chain. Hernandez estimates that P20 million worth of seafood is sourced annually from Palawan suppliers by the hotels, as well as the restaurants at Shops at Lio, the estates’ commercial area.
All the rice consumed at the four El Nido Resorts are supplied by local farmers from Narra, Palawan. Women from Sibaltan municipality, north of El Nido town, have supplied the resorts with close to 16,000 woven bags purchased from 2015 to 2019. In the past decades, owners of boats leased by El Nido Resorts to ferry guests and deliver supplies have earned around P35 million.
Hernandez pointed out, “We realize that the growth of our business is highly interdependent with the growth of surrounding communities. In addition to financial profitability and environmental stewardship, we measure our performance in AyalaLand tourism estates against how we have improved the lives of our neighbors.”
In tourism estates and mostly everywhere else, happy neighbors make good neighbors.