Mr. Tourism Anos Fonacier: 1927-2016
He has lately been known as the Father of Bohol Tourism but few people remember that Mr. Anos Jamias Fonacier was also dubbed "The Father of Cebu's Tourism Industry" because before he appeared in the scene Cebu really had nothing to offer as far as tourism is concerned. Yesterday morning, his son, Soliman "Boom" Fonacier texted me that his father quietly passed away at the age of 89 years old. So I texted him back that it was my great honor and privilege to have known his Dad, Anos Fonacier the man who put Cebu on the World Map of Tourism more than 35-years ago.
When he built the Cebu Plaza Hotel (now it is called the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel) it became Cebu City's iconic tallest building that marked the beginnings of Cebu's Tourism industry. To sell his rooms at the Cebu Plaza Hotel Fonacier's marketing group had to coin a new slogan for Cebu and they ended with that catchy phrase"An Island in the Pacific." It was the best marketing slogan Cebu and the Philippines ever had simply because it triggered the start of Cebu's Tourism industry.
If you listened to that slogan here in Cebu, it really meant nothing. But somehow I had a trip to Tokyo, Japan and when I rode a taxi at the back of the headrest of the taxicab were brochures in Japanese and English with the same "An Island in the Pacific" slogan with photos of beautiful, serene white beaches. Mind you it was the age before the Photoshop. At that time, the Philippines had a very poor reputation abroad as we were considered a dangerous place and therefore tourists should not go there.
There I was stunned that the photos of the beaches were of Tambuli Beach in Mactan and Argao Beach Resort the rest is history. Soon, Japanese tourists took chartered flights from Tokyo to Cebu to bask and enjoy our white beaches and soon those chartered flights became direct flights from Tokyo to Cebu and back. And Cebu experienced what we called "Cebooom!" Tourism has reached the shores of Cebu and it has become a major contributor to the economy of Cebu and the whole country as well.
Without this tourism boom, we would not have our Shangri-La's, Plantation Bays, Maribago Bluewater or White Sands Resorts and soon the cost of properties in Mactan, which was once pegged at centavos per square meter skyrocketed to unheard of heights. Aside from Cebu Plaza Hotel and Argao Beach Club, he built the Cebu Beach Club, Tambuli Beach Resort and founded SunStar Daily. After the first wave or tourists came to our shores, they also brought the Japanese investors, which is why we created the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ 1 and II) and Cebu's economy took off.
Few people had the foresight and vision of Mr. Anos Fonacier. We have always had Cebu in our midst but it had to take an outsider or an Ilocano to see the tourism potential of Cebu. Up in Kan-Irag mountain in Busay, Mr. Fonacier built an 18-hole golf course constructed by famous South African professional golfer Gary Player which 30-years ago was 90 percent complete except for the clubhouse. Unfortunately, it was overran by the EDSA Revolt and sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government and given to Mr. Jose Go of Ever Gotesco who destroyed the whole project and put the whole thing into a wasteland. This was an era even before Golf became a major and popular sport.
Bored perhaps with what he had done for Cebu, Anos Fonacier turned his sights to the next island, Bohol where he constructed the Bohol Beach Club in Panglao Island. Remember it wasn't easy to travel from Cebu to Bohol at that time. And soon Panglao became Bohol's must-see-tourism destination where today it has the Henan Resort in Alona Beach, Bellevue Resort Hotel, Be Hotels and Amorita Resort to name a few.
In December 2003 then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo bestowed upon Anos Fonacier a Lifetime Achievement Award for his life-long work as a trailblazer in the Tourism industry here in Central Visayas. We also bestowed on his the great honor of being an "Adopted Son of Cebu."Mr. Fonacier is also one of the incorporators of the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc. (PTF) that aims to conserve, promote and do research and establish a sanctuary for Bohol's famous Tarsier miniature monkeys, which has become a famous icon for Bohol's Tourism industry.
Whenever I go to Bohol, I always make sure to drop by Mr. Fonacier who always welcomed me with open arms and a hearty smile and we would reminisce about the old days when Cebu and Bohol really had nothing to offer as tourism in the old days, was only for Baguio or Zamboanga City. Today, Tourism has become a major driver to the Philippine economy and we have not looked back ever since those days when Mr. Fonacier took a helicopter ride to survey the island of Cebu and saw our great tourism potential that only a visionary like him could see. He was survived by his wife Josefina and children, Pia, Boom and Chug. May God grant him eternal rest.
- Latest
