Korean firm plans to invest on a resort chain in Visayas

After the much-anticipated completion of its flagship projects in Cebu, the Imperial Palace Water Park Resort and Spa and a golf course facility, Philippine BXT Corporation, eyes to establish a resort chain in the Visayas.

In an interview with J. K. Suh, BXT vice president, he said that the company is considering to set up an Imperial Resort chain in the Visayas. However, he said everything is still in the drawing board and nothing is yet final as the company’s focus is aimed towards the completion of the P3 billion water park project and on the ground works of the 70-hectare Golf Course and Golf Academy.

“We are looking into many different areas in the Philippines, it could be Bohol and Boracay,” Suh said adding that the company is on a constant search and conducting feasibility studies on preferred investment areas.

“We have to be very careful in our investment(s) that is why we have to conduct [extensive] feasibility studies,” he said in an interview with The Freeman.

At present on the other hand, nothing is official yet, in its out-of-Cebu investment plan, saying after the opening of the 556 five-star rooms and condotel at the Imperial Palace Water Park Resort and Spa this coming December, the construction of the 18-hole golf course will be immediately started.

Suh said the chairman of BXT Corporation Yong Jun Park is very committed in his investment interest to the Philippines, specifically Cebu, that despite the difficulties the company was facing upon the start of its investment here, Park was able to withstand the hurdles.

Suh hopes that when the company will start to invest in other areas in the Visayas, authorities will be more supportive to the investments, and make the environment friendly to foreign capitalists.

He said the company is insisting its interest to pursue a large Golf Course facility in Cordova in Mactan Island, although there are still some sensitive issues that are being settled by the company and the local government unit (LGU).

In a separate interview with Bruce Chiongbian, the company’s vice president for golf course development, he said that the company is also looking at other municipality areas as an alternative site for its Golf Course facility plan.

Chiongbian said the company is allotting an estimate of US$20 million for the development of the large Golf Course facility that will be designed by a well-known Golf designing expert in the world.

Cebu, which is positioned as a premier tourism destination, should provide a world at par Golf Course facility to complement the high-end branding. As of now, Chiongbian said there is only one Golf Course facility in Cebu that is considered world-class, the Alta Vista Golf Course.

It is for this reason, that BXT is willing to spend a multi-million-dollar Golf Course facility and Golf Academy to reinforce Cebu’s maximum potential in attracting high-end and high-class international tourists.