MANILA, Philippines - The Villar Group is venturing into tourism as another leg of business and is also open to the development of integrated resorts.
Vista Land & Lifescapes president Manuel Paolo Villar said the company is now ready to go full blast on tourism development with the construction of hotels .
The company plans to build the hotels in the next three years to add to its existing residential, commercial and office leasing businesses, Villar said.
“We’re venturing into tourism, as you know, and eventually, we’ll probably have some of industrial also,” Villar said.
The company is very bullish on tourism especially following President Duterte’s pivot to China, which has encouraged more Chinese visitors to come to the Philippines.
“The Chinese has been more open to come to the Philippines. I think there will be more Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines, so you’re looking at the big growth in tourism,” Villar said.
He said a number of the infrastructure projects the government is building is geared toward the development of tourism, he said.
“These include airports. You’re going to see an increase in tourist arrivals. Even some of the less well-known tourist areas are becoming more well-known,” he said.
Villar said the hotels would be a combination of company managed brands as well as joint ventures.
“Well it’s combined. And we’ll have other hotels. So we’re also looking at third party partners. It depends, like the hotel might be owned by Vista Land but managed by somebody else. It will be a mix. Some will be even owned by others,” he said.
At present, the group owns Mella Hotel although this is not under Vista Land.
Villar said they are also open to building integrated resorts and the company may also lease properties to gaming companies.
Meanwhile, the company is also looking at creating industrial zones in some of its bigger cities.
“We’re looking into that. We’re looking for potential partners for that. I’m just saying we’ll probably do some industrial in five years,” Villar said.
At present, the Villar Group is already into commercial and mall developments as well as residential projects. It is also into the development of memorial parks and emerging retail components.