San Fernando mountain resort unfazed by negative forecasts

As recession intensifies in most major foreign markets around the world, tourism is anticipated to experience a downturn this year but a mountain resort remains upbeat that their operations in San Fernando will continue to thrive through attracting domestic tourists.

Hidden Paradise Mountain Resort in Brgy. Libo, Ilaya, San Fernando is planning to go full blast with its marketing efforts this year despite the negative prospects of the country’s tourism industry.

Owner and operator Norma T. Reynaldo in an interview shared how the resort started which used to lie in a rough terrain and a slope steep mountain area in her 20-hectare estate, which she purchased from its previous land owners who needed money for medication.

Reynaldo was into land quarrying before she started the resort in 2002 and it was only through a twist of luck that the resort materialized.

Her staff requested they build their own swimming pool for their use but eventually, their neighbors and people from San Fernando heard about it and requested that they pay to be granted entrance and usage in the pool.

“The lot was not really intended for a resort. I originally planned to plant mangoes in the lot and other agricultural products so that I can provide a means of livelihood to the people around the area. With the first pool, we immediately saw the potential of the area so the resort started,” Reynaldo recounted.

From a cut and fill process which started with the first pool, Reynaldo built the second and the third pools along with the cottages, rooms and function rooms of the resort.

Currently, the resort is composed of 48 rooms from native row houses, dormitories, standard rooms, de luxe and executive accommodations and it also has six function rooms aside from its raw cottages.

Through referrals, Hidden Paradise Mountain Resort has been frequented by corporate clients from different firms and companies in Metro Cebu and other parts of the province especially workers from the business process outsourcing firms as well as a variety of nationalities and families both from Cebu and other neighboring provinces and local government units, said Reynaldo.

Aside from the swimming pools, the resort also provides activities such as billiards, water obstacle course, wall climbing, trekking, fishing, campfire and a one-of-its-kind in Cebu called the zip line, which could be found in other famous mountain resort destinations in Mindanao.

Reynaldo plans to put up other unique amenities in the area such as an aviary, butterfly farm, a botanical garden, an organic vegetable farm that can support the immediate need of the resort and its guests, a friendly mini zoo, and a spa or a wellness center to attract a wide-range segment of the tourism market such as students for lakbay aral, nature trippers and wellness camps, among others.

Right now groups of individuals are doing negotiations with the resort operator to put up other facilities such as a wall climbing shop that could provide mountain climbing lessons and demos for those who want to learn and train as well as a wellness center that will become a haven for natural and therapeutic healing in tuned with the concept of medical tourism.

With its serenity and the nearness to nature, Hidden Paradise Mountain Resort is now aiming to make a mark in Cebu’s tourism industry as another destination that could be offered to both foreign and domestic travellers that will visit Cebu.

“I never expected that many people will really come to see the resort and experience what we have to offer here because looking back, we just did our own thing here,” said Reynaldo.