RP secures tourism investments from Spain

The Philippines has secured investment commitments worth some 300 million euros from Spain in tourism, energy and information and communications technology (ICT) as well as in infrastructure development, President Arroyo said yesterday upon her arrival from a seven-day trip to Europe.

In her arrival statement, the President also said she was able to work with Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero for closer ties between the two countries in the areas of defense, security and judicial cooperation as well as witnessing efforts by Filipino and Spanish lawmakers to reduce foreign debt of poor nations.

"I met with the Confederacion Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, the largest economic group in Spain," she said. "There was serious interest in investments in the tourism, infrastructure, mining, energy and information technology."

Mrs. Arroyo said four projects, worth a total of 300 million euros, are in the pipeline. These projects include "oil and gas, hotel and resort development, ICT and infrastructure development."

Spain was the last leg of Mrs. Arroyo’s three-state swing that included Italy, and the Vatican, where she invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Philippines.

She said Spanish and Filipino parliamentarians belonging to the Christian Democrats International signed a protocol for the organization of an international conference for the conversion and investment of foreign debt of poor countries.

The conference, she said, seeks to create a social, political and legal framework that will serve as a platform for the conversion of the debt of 100 poor and middle-income countries into Millennium Development Projects with the aim of reducing the incidence of poverty by half in 2015.

"All these developments converge with our continuing gains in economic growth, political transformation and social justice in the Philippines," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the bulk of the planned investments are in the area of tourism. He said since Spain is one of the top tourist destinations in the world, it "should be able to provide us enough inputs which will further enhance or improve our own tourism industry."

Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano told reporters that Spain’s two biggest hotel and resort chains — Occidental and New Romasa — are planning to put up 200- to 400-room hotels in the country’s top tourist destinations, particularly beaches, that would be worth at least P2 billion to P4 billion each.

Bunye and Durano said the government is pulling out all the stops to make the Philippines the "headquarters" of Spanish businessmen’s projected expansion in Asia.

"Since Spain as a whole is really looking to Asia to expand investment and these two groups, this (the hotel projects) will be their very first entry into Asia," Durano said, adding that top officials of Occidental would be arriving in the country next month while investors from New Romasa are coming before the end of the year.

"Of course we have to be frank with them as to what particular product in the country (is) doing well so we said beach destinations in the country. That is really hot right now so they will be looking at the beach destinations," he said.

Durano said once the investors, who note that tourism is a fast growing industry in Asia, find a favorable location for them, it will take only 18 months to two years until the resorts and hotels open their doors.

He said the two hotel chains are not really looking at Spanish tourists coming into the country but intend to cash in on the influx of American, Japanese, Korean and Chinese visitors.

Durano said the country aims to attract more tourists but is hampered by lack of facilities and infrastructure, making the projected Spanish investments most welcome.

He pointed out that the country’s tourist arrivals have been growing by an average of 13 percent annually in the last three years. Last year, the Philippines hit the 2.6 million mark in tourist arrivals, the first in 20 years, he said.

"This year we’ll breach three million (arrivals)," Durano said.