AIG expanding its tourism business
Posted on October 18th, 2009
The Alliance Global Groups Inc. (AGI), the holding of Andrew Tan, is looking to spending more in expanding its tourism business. It believes that the tourism sector may rival its flagship firm Megaworld Corp. in terms of profits in the coming years.
AGI president Kingson U. Sian said, the company’s tourism unit, Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. will be spending $1.6 billion in its various developments in the next five years. “Travellers will be a major contributor to AGI. It can be as big as Megaworld. It’s going to happen within the next five years, depending on how we do it,†Sian said.
Travellers is developing Newport City, in partnership with Star Cruise Ltd. of Malaysia’s Genting Berhad Group. The project involve the 25 hectare are located across the NAIA 3 International Terminal. It is envisioned to be world class tourism and entertainment hub. The company plans to spend $600 million on the tourism component of the Newport City, and adding another $140 million on residential buildings by 2012.
Sian said, “We hope that we can attract by next year, 10,000 visitors a day on weekends double that.†He added that the project will generate 10,000 new tourism jobs when finished.
The Newport City will be having the Resorts World Manila, which will offer a total of 1,500 rooms in its developments. Included in this is the recently opened 5-star Marriot Hotel, the 6-star Maxims slated to open in the first quarter of 2010, and budget hotel Remington Hotel expected to open in 2011.
The company is also bullish on its tourism development in the 90 hectare Entertainment City Manila, in the Manila Bay reclamation area. Travellers said the project dubbed Bayshore City will be the country’s largest tourism city in the area once it is completed. Construction is scheduled to start by the second half of 2010.
