THE company behind hotel brands Raffles, Fairmont and Sofitel is expecting to launch 14 new hotels in the Philippines in the next five years.
Accor SA, which currently operates eight hotels in the country, said it signed a record-setting nine new hotels for the Philippines in 2019.
“Philippines is a market with great potential, and our recent signings underlines Accor’s long-term commitment to the vibrant nation,” Patrick Basset, Accor chief operating officer for Upper Southeast and Northeast Asia and Maldives, was quoted in a statement as saying.
The company said it will be introducing six new hotel brands in the Philippines, including Pullman Living, MGallery, Swissotel, Novotel Living. and Ibis Styles. The brands currently present here are Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Mövenpick, Novotel and Mercure.
“Last year, the travel and tourism industry was the fastest-growing sector in the Philippines. We are delighted to showcase even more of the Philippines with a wider choice of accommodation that makes as much sense for our hotel owners as much as it does for our guests,” Mr. Basset added.
Accor currently has in its portfolio 38 brands and about 4,900 hotels in 110 countries globally. In the coming years, the company is focusing on Asia Pacific, where it said it had opened 128 hotels in the last year and claims to open a new hotel every three days.
“With nine hotels signed to date in the Philippines, we have doubled the existing portfolio in just over nine months, and expect to add two more hotels with a combined 500 rooms by the end of 2019,” Andrew Langdon, Accor senior vice-president of development in Asia, said in the statement.
“We have further diversified our brand offering with the introduction of six Accor hotels and extended stay brands into the country,” he added.
The Department of Tourism said visitor arrivals to the Philippines tallied 6.8 million from January to October, 15% higher from last year. The biggest markets came from Korea (23.66%), China (22.05%), USA (12.83%), Japan (8.38%) and Taiwan (4.15%). — Denise A. Valdez
