Korean firm eyes Medellin for retirement villa venture

A Korean company plans to put up an integrated retirement village facility on a 50-hectare property in Medellin, which could pave way for Cebu to partake in the flourishing $3 billion medical tourism market.

Tourism chief Joseph Ace Durano said the Korean group first eyed Mactan Island for this venture, however, Mactan can not provide the 50-hectare land requirement.

The planned project is expected to provide an integrated facility for the aged foreign market seeking a health-conducive environment such as leisure facilities like golf course, high-end medical facility, among others.

Durano, however, declined to divulge the identity of the Korean group, saying proper announcement will be made as soon as the plan will be finalized.

The availability of ideal retirement village facilities is one of the reasons why Cebu has not taken off as a preferred retirement destination, although it has a huge potential.

Last month, the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) led by its chairman Edgar Aglipay and PRA acting general manager Fernando Francisco were here in Cebu to conduct a regional awareness to drum up interest in retirement village investments.

The PRA officials met with local officials, tourism and investment-oriented agencies and participating government institutions to seek their assistance in developing a climate conducive for foreign retirees to settle in Cebu.

 Cebu along with nearby provinces of Bohol and Negros Islands have been identified as focal areas for retirement destination sites in the Visayas.

In his presentation, Francisco reported that there was a 250 percent increase in retiree enrollment from January to June 2007 compared to the same period last year and provided 500 more jobs generating $190M in revenues.

Achieving the industry goal of a billion foreign retirees settling in the country eight years from now can generate $44B in additional revenues for the government and create 4M local jobs, Francisco stated during a regional conference sponsored by the PRA.

The PRA is currently embarking on an extensive 2007 programs that include expanding customer base, aggressive promotions, healthcare-centric focus and ICT-based services.

For his part, German expert on tourism value chain Gottfried Hilz-ward pointed out several loopholes of Cebu in its effort to establish a good Medical Tourism industry, saying Cebu still has to work harder.

Cebu still has to organize these things, in order to be part of the world's top choices of medical tourists.

Aside from providing infrastructure and whole package of what is needed by the growing health tourism market, Hilz-ward said there is a need for stakeholders to brain-storm in formulating a good marketing campaign to market Cebu as a preferred site for this particular service.

"Market access is very important," he said emphasizing that there has to be a solid private-sector led organization that will effectively connect Cebu to the international market in order to be known.