Upcoming projects at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport are expected to attract more tourists to Cebu. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
More tourists are expected to come here should a 5-hectare lot within the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) complex is bid out and eventually turned into a mixed-use development.
Hembler Mendoza, Lapu-Lapu City tourism chief, said that he would be expecting MCIA to become a tourism hub once this would happen.
“More direct flights will come here. Instead of going to Manila and then going to Cebu, tourists will come to Cebu directly,” Mendoza said in a recent phone interview.
5-hectare property
Mendoza was referring to the 5-hectare property within the MCIA complex which GMR Megawide Airport Corp. (GMCAC) was intending to bid out to private developers in the next two months.
GMCAC started talks with foreign and local investors last April and just recently, the SM and Ayala groups as well as a Las Vegas-based developer had expressed interest to bid for the property.
Louie Ferrer, GMCAC president, said in an earlier statement that the mixed-use development would possibly include hotels, mall complex, and a casino.
The mixed-use development will be built right across the second terminal of MCIA, both of which are expected to be completed by late 2018.
Ferrer said that GMCAC aims to ensure that traveling through MCIA is a leisurely experience for both passengers and visitors through a wide range of activities, F&B (food and beverage) and retail offerings within the airport complex.
Hotel included
Mendoza, for his part, said that the hotel that would be built within the development would help increase the accommodation capacity of Mactan Island.
Last year, GMCAC has started work on MCIA’s Terminal 2 to boost the airport’s passenger carrying capacity to 12.5 to 13 million a year from the current 4.5 million by October of 2018.
“We will be needing more rooms since the increase will be gradual. I also don’t think the new development will be a threat to existing establishments on the island as they can always complement one another,” said Mendoza.
He said visitors might opt to stay within the complex and enjoy its amenities before moving on to their next destinations.
Direct employment
The development would also translate to direct employment and tax generation, among others, he added.
Edilberto Mendoza, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Operators (CATO), agreed that this development would attract more visitors but it would depend on how the government and the private stakeholders would position it in the market.
Initially, he said he thought it would be nice to have the commercial complex near the airport but later on I realized bigger space for the airport was needed.
Plan it well
“They need to plan it well otherwise, it will be too crowded there in the coming days,” said MCIA General Manager Nigel Paul Villarete, as he also expressed his support to the concessionaire’s initiative.
“We support that for as long as these are aligned with the development aspirations of the city and region, and they adhere to existing laws, regulations and policies of government,” Villarete said.
Alongside the construction of the airport’s New Passenger Terminal Building or Terminal 2, slated for completion by first half of 2018, a 230-meter commercial strip will open at the Terminal 1 Arrivals Road and an “Airport Village” will open offering an array of F&B and retail choices.
GMCAC, which is 60 percent owned by listed Filipino construction company Megawide Construction Corporation and 40 percent by Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Limited, won a 25-year concession agreement to renovate Terminal 1.