Backpackers’ inn opens in Cebu

Published on Sun.Star Network Online (http://www.sunstar.com.ph)

by Debra Magallon-EsteroSun.Star Staff Reporter

AT THE heart of the city is a “hideaway” that awaits budget travelers.

Since it opened last October, the Aysha Lily Guesthouse has become a home-away-from-home to foreign and local travelers, especially backpackers.

Jo-Ann Badana, who manages the guesthouse while the owners are out of the country, told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview that the Australian owner got the concept after staying in a similar accommodation in Manila.

Carol Ann McDonald, the owner of the inn, married Badana’s cousin who used to work in a travel and tours company. In Australia, McDonald worked in a real estate company.

Badana said McDonald noticed there were no accommodations for backpackers or those who travel on a budget in Cebu City. Seeing the need for a backpackers’ inn, McDonald checked out about 100 houses around the city before picking a Spanish-style house located along Gen. Maxilom Ave.

Although 70 percent of the original house structure was preserved, it now has eight fan rooms, four air-con rooms and two dormitory-type rooms that can accommodate eight to 10 people.

Room rates start at P450 a night while bed space in a dormitory-type room is at P290 a night.

All rooms are furnished with bamboo beds. The inn’s interiors feature Filipino and Asian designs.

The guesthouse offers laundry service and cooking implements to guests who want to cook their food.

Badana said most of Aysha Lily guests are short-staying travelers who come to the city after a dive in Moalboal or a daytrip in Bohol.

After the Sinulog, McDonald has decided to open four more rooms within the year. The guest-house was fully booked during the Sinulog, said Badana.

McDonald, she said, is also planning to open another guesthouse in Bohol but a date has yet to be set.

Source URL: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/backpackers%E2%80%99-inn-opens-cebu

‘Small’ markets help RP

Published on Sun.Star Network Online (http://www.sunstar.com.ph)
by: Debra Magallon-Estero

DESPITE the decreased arrivals of tourists from the country’s regular travelers, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano revealed the “smaller markets” has helped the department “almost” achieve its growth target for 2008.

In an interview last Friday, Durano said tourist arrivals last year grew by two percent, or close to 3.2 million tourist arrivals.The Department of Tourism (DOT) has set the 2008 target at 3.5 million.

“We are one of the remaining markets that still achieved positive growth in the world,” Durano noted.

He said that in 2008, close to 50 percent of the country’s regular traveling market has decreased.

This includes tourists from Japan, Korean, the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong.

“The Japanese arrivals were better than expected,” he said but added that last year there were two million less Japanese travelers worldwide.

“But even when a bulk of the volume went down, the growth of the smaller markets (helped),” he said.

Among the emerging markets are the Russians, a market that grew 34 percent. French arrivals also increased 18 percent while tourists from the United Kingdom grew 10 percent. Australians and Taiwanese arrivals also grew between six and eight percent.

Durano, who said tourist arrivals will continue to contract this year, also believes the industry can still “manage to outperform the market” with close to two percent growth from last year by the end of 2009.

“We can only perform as well as the market will allow us to perform,” he added. (DME)

Source URL: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/%E2%80%98small%E2%80%99-markets-help-rp

Real Estate Boom Amid Economic Turmoil

Earlier today, I interviewed the general manager of a start up real estate firm who was set to launch its first residential project here in Cebu.

The company is actually the fourth real estate firm I interviewed for this month and I should say that this industry is not losing over to the global economic setback experienced the world over.

All four companies are very positive with their forecasts for this year, saying that the demand for lots, house and lots and condominium units in the province continue to rise.

And these companies all point out to similar factors why there exists such a trend in Cebu.

First, they attribute growth to the increasing number of overseas Filipino workers who believe in investing hard earned money on real property.

This is clearly evident of how the Filipino working class has matured in handling their finances. Although it really took a long way before the Filipino has come to terms with the fact that money should be spent wisely, at least we are now getting there.

The increase in the demand for residential projects is also an effect of many companies choosing to outsource a part of their businesses to the Philippines. The offshoring and outsourcing industry here is a growth driver not just for the real estate industry but also to tourism, food and retail industries.

Employees in the BPO sector are almost being singled out as the ones more capable to buy properties because of the hefty pay they are receiving. On the downside, they become easy targets for consumerism.

Cebu, being a business hub, has also become home to implanted residents who come here initially for business but ends up staying for the long term because of the many pleasures the city has to offer.

Now the real estate industry here is in for a stiff competition. And I guess this is not a bad thing after all. (Deejhay Magallon)