Accommodations and tour destinations in the province have been greatly affected in the past 10 months due to the security issue. But industry players are beginning to see signs of recovery.
Patrick Favoreal, group director for sales and marketing of The Legend Hotel Manila and Palawan, confirms this.
Favoreal says the three-star hotel, which specializes in tour-hosting and corporate events, had its share of the slump as convention bookings and room occupancy nose-dived to 12 percent. "This is the first in the history of our hotel," he admits.
Prior to the May 27, 2001 incident, The Legend Hotel Palawan registered an average of 90 percent occupancy a month during the first three months of 2001, compared to the 40 percent average during the same period this year.
Against this backdrop, another top official of the hotel has high hopes that business will be on a winning streak.
"We are confident that our core markets will be coming back," confides Susan Ong, property manager of The Legend Hotel Palawan.
Ong notes that 80 percent of the hotel’s market is composed of corporate accounts – Manila-based companies and government agencies who count the hotel as their home in Palawan. The remaining 20 percent consists of family and group vacationers.
As a tactical move to lure in visitors to Palawan, the hotel recently launched a promotion dubbed "Palawan Vacation Experience" to regain the lost market share.
For only P7,999, a guest is entitled to a round-trip airfare via Air Philippines, twin-occupancy room for three days and two nights, airport transfer and guided tour.
"What’s unique with this promo is a choice of Honda Bay Island Hopping, or the Underground River Adventure with meals and the hospitality of a well-trained tour host," says Ong.
There are six paradise islands in Honda Bay with shallow reefs and pristine beaches, perfect sites for island-hopping, snorkeling, swimming and scuba-diving.
Deep within the limestone and marble peaks of Mount St. Paul flows the world-famous Underground River. At the river’s mouth is a beautiful lagoon with crystal-clear waters teeming with fish. At the underground river, guests enter a mystical environment and explore the pitch-dark interior recesses of the cavern where every turn and bend reveals huge stalactites touching the water’s surface and reflecting colors from yellow to reddish brown.
Other points of interest in Puerto Princesa are the Crocodile Farm Institute, the Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm, the Vietnam Village and the Butterfly Garden.
The crocodile farm aims to preserve and propagate crocodiles not only for tourism but for the export market as well. It is home to more than 300 Philippine crocodiles of various sizes, yearlings and incubated eggs. It is just a 20-minute tricycle ride from The Legend Hotel.
A visitor can get off at Iwahig, 16 kilometers south of the city proper. The 37-hectare penal farm is planted with coconuts, palay and other crops, and populated by 4,000 people, mostly inmates and their families. Iwahig looks like a modern farm rather than a prison, with the inmates cultivating their farms unguarded or doing handicrafts.
Situated along the city’s main thoroughfare – Malvar street – The Legend Hotel Palawan is considered the city’s finest hotel. The place bills itself as an ideal venue for corporate functions punctuated by island adventures. It is definitely a place you can call home away from home in Puerto Princesa.