THE gaming and tourism sectors in the country are predicted to continue growing stronger in the coming years and produce positive results for the real-estate industry, CB Richard Ellis said.
Reports showed revenue in 2015 from both government and privately owned casinos rose by 17.5 percent to P47 billion ($1 billion), from 2014’s P40 billion ($900 million), while foreign tourist arrivals reached 5.36 million, 10.9 percent higher than the 4.83 million recorded in 2014.
The double-digit growth in both sectors is expected to open wide opportunities for the Philippines to attract more investors and generate revenues.
In the recently concluded Euromoney Philippines Investment Forum, Rick Santos, chairman and founder of CB Richard Ellis Philippines, provided specific development insights about the gaming and tourism sectors in the country.
“The great rise for the gaming sector, retail, residential and the whole branded hotel and residential sector is one of the reasons why we will see a lot of opportunities, especially for the foreign investors, to come in,” he said.
Santos said potential growth is stronger, especially for branded residential developments happening in primary and secondary gateways across the country. Real-estate industry players have partnered with prestigious hotel groups, such as Fairmont Raffles, AccorHotels, Starwood and Dusit Thani, to offer branded residences in Manila, Cebu and Davao.
“From a consumer perspective, branded residential has been doing extremely well for the past years. People see them happening in both north and south of the country, making them a great opportunity for the market,” Santos said.
Manila’s premier gaming hub The Entertainment City is also preparing for the opening of Okada Manila as the third integrated resort to launch in the complex, after the widely successful Solaire Resort & Casino and City of Dreams Manila. These developments in the gaming and tourism sectors are seen to lead and attract more tourists into the country and are expected to continue the strong growth of Philippines’s real-estate industry.
“Phase 1 is going to open in November 2017 and reportedly $2.4 billion has been spent for phase one alone, and $4 billion for the entire project,” Santos said.
Alongside the gaming sector, tourism in the Philippines has expanded as the country continues to attract high-value visitors from around the world. The double-digit growth in foreign tourist arrivals has resulted to a 5.9-percent increase in 2015 tourism receipts to P227.62 billion ($5 billion), from P214.88 billion ($4.8 billion) in 2014.
Though these foreign tourist arrival figures pale in comparison with some Asean neighbors, Santos expects that infrastructure developments through public-private partnership (PPP) projects will support the long-term growth of tourism in the Philippines. More specifically, the upgrades and construction of airports, roads and transportation facilities will substantially improve accessibility to various tourist destinations and improve the quality of travel experiences in the country.
“The government has a great vision for tourism—for example, Palawan. Palawan still has its prestige as a destination. And because tourism is also one of the government’s priorities, it creates more real-estate projects,” Santos said.
The Philippines also has a stronger foothold among countries in Asia when it comes to attracting a wider range of visitors from across the globe. Recent government reports show that several big Asian source markets to the Philippines grew by leaps and bounds in 2015, such as South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Malaysia. China alone, one of the world’s biggest tourism markets, grew remarkably by 24.3 percent.