Cebu to benefit from PRA promotional activities

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu’s potential as a retirement haven gets added boost as the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) bares plan to aggressively promote the country as a retirement destination abroad.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-Cebu) provincial director Nelia Navarro said that Cebu will maximize its potential to attract thousands of retirees looking for alternative vacation homes outside of their countries, if investors will start to build facilities that will accommodate this multi-million-dollar market.

Recently, Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) general manager Veredigno Atienza said that the government will aggressively promote the country as a retirement destination for the world’s retirees.

Atienza said that the agency must do more roadshows and conferences which are rifled at distinct focused audiences.

PRA, is now focusing on the country’s leading source countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan.

“PRA is leveraging developments in age-friendliness, tourism, healthcare and Department of Tourism’s ‘Its more fun in the Philippines’ campaign to boost the Philippine position further in the international retirement rankings,” Atienza said.

The PRA general manager added that the best way to get reputable international publicity is to secure good graces of respected international magazine.

He said the Philippines needs to compete with global competitors which are offering more aggressive retirement programs.

Because of this, PRA is expected to launch more product innovations designed to lure more retirees to the country.

He said the Philippines hopes to attract one to ten million foreign retirees in the next six years.

Meanwhile, in Cebu, Navarro said the province still has to provide the right facilities to host the growing retiree market, who already expressed interest to prefer Cebu as their retirement destination.

At present though, while Cebu is still attracting capitalists to invest on building integrated retirement villages or facilities, Cebu is slowly positioning at a “Light Medical Tourism Destination.”

Navarro hopes that the earlier annoucement of businessman Justin Uy to develop a 10-hectare Retirement Village in Consolacion will soon be realized.

For the meantime, while the plan is still raw, Cebu will have to maximize its strength in the huge medical tourism market, which is to focus on providing services for the active retirees, who may not necessarily live in Cebu yet, but experience the place for vacation, leisure and some of their medical needs.  (FREEMAN)