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THE Intercontinental Hotel Group (IHG) has appealed
before the government to maintain the Loakan Airport in Baguio City,
even as President Arroyo pushes for its conversion into an economic
zone.
Michael S. Kacho, IHG director
for operations service center, said that investors in Baguio City
want to keep the airport, since it is too taxing for working
expatriates to go to Baguio City by land.
“While a flight to La Union [Poro
Point] Airport from Manila is almost an hour, then it would take
[us] another one hour and forty five minutes by land to Baguio
City,” Kacho said.
IHG positioned its second back
office in Baguio City, which has a sitting capacity of 500. IHG is
the largest hotel chain in the world, whose brands include Crown
Plaza, Intercontinental, Candlewood and Hotel Indigo. The
Philippines has cornered its main back office operations catering to
its clients’ needs.
Kacho said that just like other
existing locators, they want to keep the airport with Asian Spirit
flying four times a week.
Mrs. Arroyo has long been eyeing
to convert the runway of Loakan into an extension of the fully
occupied Baguio City Economic Zone.
Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila,
said in earlier interviews that by converting the runway into an
ecozone, hundred millions of dollars worth of investments will find
their way to Baguio City.
The government has offered the
San Fernando International Airport inside the Poro Point Freeport
Zone in La Union as an alternative.
Favila said some Korean and
Japanese businessmen are keen on putting up their facilities inside
the Loakan Airport, while existing investors in the Baguio City
Economic Zone led by American chipmaker Texas Instruments are
interested in expanding to the airport once converted into an
ecozone.
--Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
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