Architectural experts including esteemed urban planning authority Felino “Jun” Palafox Jnr took to the stage to discuss regenerative hospitality in the Philippine context during the headline panel for the ninth Hospitality Philippines Conference yesterday, 9th September, at the Marriott Manila.
Moderated by architect Cathy Saldaña of PDP Architects, the panel featured insights from Palafox, as well as from Italpinas Development Corporation founder and chairman Romolo Nati and William Ti Jnr, principal architect at WTA.
The headline panel sought to examine what it takes to create hotels and destinations that actively contribute to the environment, communities, and long-term value of destinations.
As such, the discussion revolved around how principles of regenerative tourism could be embedded into architecture, development, urban planning, as well as destination marketing.
Doing so would essentially balance commercial realities with climate resilience, cultural identity, community impact, and responsible growth.
Celebrating unique cultures in the context of hospitality
For Ti, promoting tourism to boost the country’s hospitality sector involves a push in terms of nature-based tourism.
As he put it: “We always celebrate our beaches and our mountains in many ways because those are easy wins. We have a beautiful landscape, we have so many islands.”
However, he also pointed out that key tourist destinations, particularly in Asia, have a very unique culture that should be celebrated.
As Ti explains it, culture comes about through daily interaction, as well as integration with local communities to draw attention to areas with a great deal of potential.
He said: “I think [that] the hotels we're trying to build for the most part, we're trying to integrate into almost brownfield sites to try to regenerate them. So there's a sense of gentrification that these are sites that have been neglected for decades. If you look at the heart of the city, in the centre of Manila, there's a lot of opportunities for you to introduce hotels that would then generate renewed interest in these areas. I think the important thing is for us to kind of tie into the surrounding context, the immediate context.”
Palafox weighs in
Industry veteran and now an elder statesman for urban planning in the Philippines and beyond, Palafox pointed out that truly regenerative tourism and hospitality in the country face seven challenges to their development.
He pointed out that these are corruption, governance, criminality, inter-regional order, climate change, poverty, and inequality in infrastructure.
Such issues have been a deterrent to foreign investments that could have gone into meaningful development.
Palafox also emphasised that Filipino hospitality should not lose its sense of place in terms of ambience and atmosphere throughout both property design and operations.
He said “[Atmosphere and ambience] can go together at both the front of house and back of house. Sometimes, the back of the house is more important, as is the way we are treating guests.”
He specifically cited the service ethos of the Ritz-Carlton luxury hospitality chain which centres on offering respectful and mindful service.
As he put it: “With every employee of the Ritz-Carlton, [it is written] behind their ID, We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. It really speaks well of [a property or even a developer.]”
Beyond urban centres
For his part, Nati spoke of how Mindanao is moving forward at an impressive pace across multiple sectors, from residential towers to hospitality.
He also pointed out that the sector has come a long way from the time when most investors shunned provincial developments in favour of extensive urban development in Manila.
According to Nati: “Convincing early investors and banks was challenging because the industry was heavily focused on Metro Manila. However, it wasn't difficult to foresee the real estate saturation we are seeing in the capital today. We have always believed that the Philippine provinces represent the country's single greatest real estate opportunity. With over 7,400 islands, the Philippines offers an incredible diversity of destinations, not just beaches, as seen in our project in the mountains of Bukidnon.”
In order to capitalise on this diversity, Nati opined that the Philippines needs to be promoted more aggressively abroad.
He said: “While infrastructure has historically lagged behind our ASEAN neighbors, the current scale of airport and transport construction is encouraging. Beyond infrastructure, many destinations from Banaue to General Santos suffer from a lack of quality hospitality products, hotels, and resorts. This gap creates an immense commercial opportunity.”
