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BY Ben Arnold de Vera
Researcher
GROWING investment opportunities
in tourism, infrastructure and business process outsourcing (BPO)
make the Philippines the “hottest” real-estate hub in Southeast
Asia, according to real-estate services firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
“Foreign investors are looking
at the positive effects of the stable Philippine peso, increasing
tourist arrivals, the BPO boom, and overseas Filipino worker
remittances into the country,” Trent Frankum, CBRE Philippines
general manager said in a statement.
Tourist arrivals in the
Philippines rose to 3.091 million last year, breaking the
two-million mark for the first time since 2004. Hotel room occupancy
rates thus rose to 73.06 percent from 71.95 percent in 2006, Frankum
said. CBRE said it anticipates the local tourism growth to be
sustained by upcoming markets, such as Russia, China, South Korea
and Middle Eastern countries. CBRE also estimates arrivals to
increase to 3.4 million this year, generating $5.8 billion in
international tourism receipts.
“New hotel and resort
developments are currently in strategic business locations such as
Makati City, Fort Bonifacio, and the Bay Area as well as top tourist
destinations such as Cebu and Boracay, further enhancing industry
prospects,” Frankum said.
The CBRE executive said the
offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) boom in the country created
more prospects for the real-estate market.
“Major investors and businesses
are looking at the Philippines because it is one of the largest
English-speaking nations in the world and has 33.5 million Filipinos
in the workforce,” he said, adding many multinational BPO firms
are currently expanding their presence by building facilities all
over the Philippines. According to CBRE research, 731,871 square
meters of property in Metro Manila have been earmarked for new
O&O facilities this year, with 189,614 square meters already
pre-committed before commencing construction. Fran-kum said BPO
players are also expanding outside Metro Manila, citing the six
facilities of Teletech.
Major global financial companies
such as HSBC, Citigroup, and JPMorgan are also expanding the sites
of their customer service operations in the country.
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