Bizman invests on medical tourism

By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News
Posted date: May 27, 2009

Cebu Daily News / Enterprise
After cashing in on adventure tourism when he set up the Sky Experience Adventure series last year, Cebuano businessman Richard L. King is investing on another tourism-related sector – medical tourism.

King, chairman of J. King and Sons Company, Inc. said the company would open diagnostic screening center on the seventh and eighth floors of the Crown Regency Hotels and Towers in Osmeña Boulevard in the fourth quarter of the year.

“The concept is to provide comfort and convenience for medical tourists. What they’ll just do is to check in the hotel and wake up in the morning knowing that they can step in a screening center inside the hotel without to endure long waiting lines,” he said.

King said the company has partnered with a major hospital organization but has yet to firm up the contract and the memorandum of agreement.

He said the 2,000 square meter facility (1,000 square meters per floor) will also cater to walk-in clients and Club Ultima members, a club membership structure which the company also runs.

King said this facility also works to the advantage of club members who can pay for their executive check-ups in advance and save on costs.

“The trend today is towards health consciousness and that’s what we’re getting at for this new facility,” King told Cebu Daily News in an interview last week.

The Sky Experience Adventure included entertainment facilities, such as the edge coaster ride and sky observatory at the top floors of the company’s Crown Regency Hotel in Fuente Osmena.

Apart from this recent developments, King said the company continues to invest on multi-million tourism developments in at least six Philippine locations to increase the country’s bid to become the top tourist destination worldwide.

He said long term plan is to put up diagnostic screening centers in other tourism projects.

These developments include those located in Cebu, Boracay Island in Aklan, Davao and Makati. There are also planned investments for Panglao Island, Bohol and Tagaytay City located in the provinces of Cavite and Batangas.

King said they are working towards creating a fully-integrated tourism business banking on the company’s strength as a player in the real estate and hospitality industries since 1991.

In Cebu, the company owns Crown Regency Hotels and Towers and Club Ultima in Osmeña Boulevard and two other Crown Regency hotels in barangay Guadalupe, Cebu and Lapu-Lapu City.

The company also owns three resorts in Boracay Island. These are the newly-opened Crown Regency Resort in station 3, Crown Regency Resort and Convention Center in station 2 which is undergoing construction and Crown Regency Prince to be opened this month in station 1.

King said they are still in the planning stage on what specific projects to establish for the existing properties in Panglao and Tagaytay.

The company started with Prince Court Hotels and Suites in 1991.

The company also owns Best Inn, First Laundy Services, MetroSports Center and Vital-C health products among others.

Bizman Invests On Medical Tourism

Sky Adventure in Fuente

By Cris Evert Lato
Cebu Daily News

Posted date: May 25, 2009

http://services.inquirer.net/print/print.php?article_id=20090525-206991

Sky Adventure in Fuente

For years, white sand beaches and rich cultural heritage are two main reasons why tourists come to Cebu.

But today, there is another reason why tourists are in Cebu: the edge coaster ride on top of Cebu’s tallest tower.

“People now come to Cebu to experience how it is to be on top of Cebu’s tallest tower riding a coaster or watching the scenery from above,” said Richard King, chairman of J. King and Sons Company Inc., which is the prime mover of the activities under the brand Sky Experience Adventure.

King, who graduated summa cum laude in Chemical Engineering from the University of San Carlos in 1979, said the Sky Experience Adventure series was launched in December 2008.

The adventure experience includes the edge coaster ride, sky walk extreme and sky observatory among others. The activities are all located in Tower 1 of Crown Regency Hotels and Towers in Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City.

The adventure series attracted Pinoy boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao, who was in Cebu last Sinulog.

King said putting up the extreme adventure experience “in the heart of Cebu’s tallest tower” had been planned since he decided to put up the hotel-tower property.

“We want to make this a landmark of Cebu. In two to three years, this may not be the tallest tower here anymore. Having this whole range of sky adventure activities will place us in a strategic position,” said King who has a master’s degree in business management from the Asian Institute of Management in 1983.

SKY EXPERIENCE

About $5 million was invested for the sky experience adventure series, said King.

This investment is growing as they aim to improve the services to suit the adventurous needs of the public.

King said an American company, which put up the different rides in Las Vegas, was commissioned to install the edge coaster ride located on the 38th floor and the sky walk, 127 meters above the street.

King said the company takes pride on the edge coaster ride as the world’s first and the only amusement ride of its kind.

The coaster ride literally goes around the edge of the building. The riders are locked into the rail seats, which can be tilted at 55 degrees.

“We are elevating the level of the hospitality industry to entertainment. It is no longer just rooms or banquets and the concept of sky adventure fits in this entire concept,” he said.

Entrance to the sky observatory costs P380 for non-peak hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and P480 for peak hours (4 p.m. onwards). The fee is good for two people and inclusive of a sky meal — bottomless drinks and a sandwich.

Online bloggers have posted positive reactions on the edge coaster ride, which is at P500 during non-peak hours and P600 for peak hours. The fee is also good for two people.

For the faint-hearted, the sky observatory, also on the 38th floor, offers an alternative. Coin-operated binoculars and telescopes are available or tourists and visitors can enjoy the view at the tower’s Sky Bar.

About 40 people, including the operators and maintenance personnel, were trained by employees of the American company, who installed the edge coaster ride.

“Safety is secured for all rides and activities. The system is monitored in the US and through the Internet, they know what’s going on–how many took the ride and in what time,” he said.

INNOVATION

An additional feature, which is gaining attention, is the 4D Theatre on the 18th floor where viewers can see, feel, hear and move with the movie.

The audience can watch three movies which last for close to 30 minutes. The fee is from P450 to P600 depending on the viewing time.

“This is innovation and all these put us up ahead of the competition. Innovation is a characteristic of the different ventures of the company,” said King.

King said another ride, called an “insanity orbit,” will also be in place two years from now.

As the company develops more properties nationwide, King hopes to bring the concept of the sky experience.

Taking inspiration from his father, Don Jesus Amado King, he said making people aware and appreciate these innovations would be the primary challenge.

He said he also should not wait for tomorrow to do things that can be done today.

But before making any decision, King said it pays to anticipate for any eventuality by gathering the right information — the same learning concepts he applied in making the breathtaking sky experience adventure activities a reality for Cebu.

European tourism junket ongoing on Boracay

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer Visayas
First Posted 16:46:00 05/06/2009

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20090506-203485/European-tourism-junket-ongoing-on-Boracay

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—More than 200 travel agents from the biggest European tour wholesaler are on a familiarization tour of Boracay Island in what tourism officials expect to be a big boost in drawing more Europeans to the resort.

Around 260 tour agents and counter staff of tour consolidator Meier’s Weltreisen arrived on the island on Tuesday for a three-day familiarization tour and seminar on the island, Edwin Trompeta, regional director of the Department of Tourism, said in a telephone interview.

The tour for travel agents and staff from 220 travel agencies in Germany and Austria is part of the company’s 20th annual Far East Live Seminar (FELS). The group arrived in Manila on May 3.

Travel writers from Germany and Austria and travel trade press representatives also joined the seminar.

The participants are billeted at the newly opened Boracay Shangri-la Resort and Spa, the main venue of the seminar.

They have been doing their rounds of the bars, restaurants, hotels and the beachfront “to get a pulse of the place and the people,” according to Trompeta.

Trompeta said the tour was expected to have a big impact on tourist arrivals from Europe especially in Boracay because Meier’s Weltreisen accounts for 30 percent of tourist arrivals in Asia.

He cited the impact of Meier’s FELS on destinations where it conducted its seminars.

Vietnam’s tourist arrivals increased by 40 percent after the 2006 FELS in the country, he said. Tourism also rose in Khao Lak in Thailand after the 2007 FELS there.

He said the activity is estimated to initially bring in around P15 million in tourist revenues to the country.

Germany and the United Kingdom are among the country’s biggest tourist markets in Europe. Around 55,000 Germans visit the country each year with more than 5,000 also going to Boracay, according to Trompeta.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the country grew by an average of 10.6 percent in 2004-2008, considered one of the best performing destinations in the world, according to Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano in an earlier interview.

Domestic tourism also grew by an average of 18 percent yearly with Boracay Island among the top tourist destinations.

Boracay has reported high occupancy for its 5,800 hotel rooms, and 340 more rooms are under construction.

The tourist arrivals have been boosted by direct flights from Taiwan and Shanghai to the Kalibo airport on the Aklan mainland.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last March announced that investors are also coming in to develop an international airport in Caticlan, the jump-off point to Boracay. Another airport is being eyed on the nearby Carabao Island.

RP coping well with global crisis – ADB

By Ted P. Torres Updated March 30, 2009 12:00 AM
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=453281&publicationSubCategoryId=66

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippines is dealing with the global financial crisis better than most countries in the Asia Pacific region.

“The Philippines is well positioned to show great leadership in deepening economic integration both within the region and with the global economy,” ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda said at a reception held last week at the ADB headquarters in Manila.

Since opening its doors in 1966, ADB has invested more than $10 billion in financial and technical assistance to the Philippines.

Kuroda noted that ADB has worked since its inception 42 years ago with other partners to help bring drinking water, irrigation, education, electricity, decent housing and many other benefits to the nation’s poor people.

The reception was held in honor of the relationship with the Philippines, which has played host to the financial institution’s headquarters.

“More specifically, it is a privilege for ADB to pay homage to our host country — a country whose people are known the world over for their determination, pride, and dauntless spirit,” the ADB chief executive added.

He added he was “very pleased as well that ADB has been able to support the government’s fiscal, regulatory and legal reforms, which have also benefited the poor while enhancing the country’s financial and economic resilience.”

Meanwhile, the Australian government recently extended a P3.8-billion grant to the Philippines over a five-year period to manage and maintain more than 1,000 kilometers of provincial roads in up to 10 provinces in Mindanao and the Visayas, under the Provincial Road Management Facility agreement.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) signed the agreement for the Philippine government.

An estimated four million population in the two regions will have better access to rehabilitated and maintained road networks, economic activity and public infrastructure and services that will improve their livelihoods by 2014.

“Better roads will also improve access to jobs, health services and essential social and educational facilities in rural and regional areas,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith said.

The provinces that will initially be allowed access to the funds are Bohol, Surigao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Agusan del Sur, Bukidnon, Guimaras, and Misamis Oriental.

For the periods covering 2008 and 2009, the Australian Government, through the Australian Agency for International Aid (AusAID) will provide an estimated P4.4 billion in development assistance, focusing on economic growth, basic education, and national stability and human security.

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Fuente Tower 3 Cebu City-Loft Type High-rise Condo Construction Updates

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

Boracay Crown Regency Resort & Convention Center Construction Updates in May 2009

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