DOT sets up property data bank

By Mia A. Aznar

Wednesday, October 17, 2012
TO better promote the Philippines to investors, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is coming up with a property data bank for all available opportunities for investment.
In a symposium with stakeholders yesterday, the DOT urged property developers, property owners and local governments to register properties by submitting a property information questionnaire to the local DOT office.
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Donald Balanhi of the DOT Office of Tourism Standards and Regulations said the purpose of the property data bank was to gather investment opportunities from different regions and be listed with the DOT database. It is meant to help local property owners market their property to investors and match their entries with prospective investors.
Balanhi said that they often meet investors at international travel shows and who usually ask for a list of properties they can invest in. Balanhi admitted that while they have a current database of such properties, the list is short. They hope to add more properties on the list to pique the interest of possible investors.
Investment portfolio
The property data bank will be included in the Philippines’ tourism investment portfolio, which the department hopes to make available next year. The portfolio will include regional situationers, maps, photos, arrival figures, information on accessibility, available carriers and schedules, tourist attractions and the property listing.
Properties that could be included in the list are raw land, raw land with a few physical structures such as railings, commercial vacant lots, commercial buildings, existing hotels in need of renovation or modernization, existing resort and sports complexes and other properties that could be used for tourism-related activities. The properties have to be free of legal problems such as territorial or ownership disputes.
The department hopes to intensify participation by going on regional symposiums to get the word out, especially in regions considered major tourist destinations like the Central Visayas. They hope to have enough properties on the list by year end so they can use this for the tourism investment portfolio by next year.
Balanhi said such listings helped to get international hotel chains like Banyan Tree in locating prime property for their investments in the Philippines. He added that the property data bank will be useful when the country participates in international travel marts and in activities of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Joint ventures
Judilyn Quiachon of the DOT 7 said being in the list will also help property owners seeking to sell or get into joint ventures attract the kind of partners they want to get involved with.
They will be working with the private sector, government agencies and the Cebu Assistance Development Network to get more properties on the list.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 18, 2012.