Palawan resort recovers from 2001 kidnapping

Sun.Star Cebu <> Sunday, June 30, 2008

BY NANCY R. CUDIS, Sun.Star Staff Reporter

PUERTO PRINCESA – Seven years after the abduction of an American missionary couple and 18 others, the Dos Palmas Island Resort and Spa in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan is again gaining ground as a prime tourist destination here.

Aside from its posh accommodation facilities, the resort became controversial with the abduction of guests Martin and Gracia Burnham and 18 others by the Abu Sayyaf in 2001. The incident did not only caused the closure of Dos Palmas for four months, it also caused the tourism industry in Palawan to suffer losses.

But the tourism industry in Palawan’s capital is picking up and Dos Palmas seems to be recovering well.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn said that in 2007, tourist arrivals in the city rose 73 percent from 52 percent in 1992.

Rey Salvatierra, Philippine Airlines (PAL)-Puerto Princesa Airport branch manager, confirmed the trend.

Cebuanos

The management of Dos Palmas foresees an influx of Cebuanos coming in with the revival of the Cebu-Palawan route of PAL Express, the flag carrier’s budget unit, last month. PAL Express has daily flights between Puerto Princesa and Cebu.

“The opening of this route only shows that Palawan is booming. Otherwise,

PAL would not have flown to a place where there is no demand for it. We know that there are many from Cebu who want to come here but are hindered by lack of transportation,” said Dos Palmas operations manager Johann Catiil.

About 70 percent of the 10-year-old resort’s regular guests are Filipinos, of which 30 percent are from the Visayas region. The rest are mostly balikbayans.

Koreans topped the list of visitors from Asia not only in Dos Palmas but also in the whole Palawan.

However, the Burnham kidnapping caused Europeans, who were the most frequent visitors of the resort, to be “very cautious,” said Catiil.

He said Dos Palmas’ occupancy rate remained at 30 to 40 percent between June and August until two years ago. But he added that since then, the resort is slowly attracting an increasing number of foreign tourists—although not as much as the number of domestic visitors.

“Apart from our website, word of mouth and presence of marketing consultants, what we do is that when interested people call us, we fax them security details. While beefing up our own security, we keep in close contact with the Puerto Princesa City Government and the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to help monitor the seas,” he said in an interview with reporters Friday.

The resort also provides 24-hour security on the entire Arreceffi Island, where it is located, as well as an electronic marine
radar system that guards major approaches to the island and emergency training for security guards and staff.

Dos Palmas, the only resort in Puerto Princesa City, sits on a 24-hectare property. It has 76 room beach villas, 10 bay cottages and four executive rooms. Most of its furniture pieces are from Cebu.

With only about six hectares of the area presently occupied by the resort and hardly any lean season since two years ago, Catiil said Dos Palmas is planning to construct a gym, a mini golf course and a fishing village.

At present, its amenities include a spa, playground, tennis court, basketball court, chapel and swimming pool. It also has facilities for water activities such as snorkeling and diving, among others.

Dos Palmas, whose sister company is the New City Commercial Center (NCCC), will also expand to Verde Island, Batangas where it will provide the same amenities as in Palawan.

The 10-hectare Dos Palmas Island Resort and Spa-Verde Island will soft open on June 25, with 28 rooms.

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