Cebu resort eyes Asian, Australian markets

Three years after it opened in Cebu, Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa will focus on diversifying its market including getting more events and incentive travelers.

While the resort has always been identified with concentrating on the Korean market, resort officials said that they were interested about tapping new markets starting 2013.

They would continue to tap the Korean market but they would also be promoting the resort in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said Dominic Dorol, director of sales and marketing of Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa.

“We plan to tie up with the Department of Tourism for promotions in these areas. For Hong Kong and Taiwan, we hope that our efforts in the past will help us increase the number of tourists from these countries,” said Dorol.

The resort would also look at the Australian market, said Dorol.

He said that the Philippine Tour Operators Association had put Australia as an emerging market to watch out for and that Australia was one of the countries with a healthy economy.

“As of now, they (Australians) only see Phuket and Bali as a destination. We should start promoting our  products so that we can see more Australians coming here,” said Dorol.

As of August, about 70 percent of their guests were Koreans and the rest were divided among the domestic tourists, Japanese and Russians who were also slowly growing, said Kristine Mangapis, revenue manager of the resort.

The resort is also positioning to become a destination for meetings, incentives, conventions and expositions.

“We have seen a surge in number of events that we also host here from small groups of 10 to a thousand. And we would like to push for more of these events here in our property,” said Emet Sendin, events manager of the resort.

Dorol also cited the 14 percent year-to-date increase of banquet revenues, a result of several events held in the property.

“We have here meetings, conventions and even destination weddings of Filipinos from the United States who wants to come home and get married in their native land. We hope to push more and have more events hosted here,” said Sendin.

Resort officials revealed their strategy to implement these goals.

“We will be strengthening our brand through our line ‘Experience the Palace’ and will be implementing a shift in sales towards a ‘customer-centric’ approach. We will also be doing a rewards program that people will really appreciate,” said Angela Emphasis, Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa press relations manager.

They will also be improving their website and a mobile site with booking capabilities that will make booking for rooms and functions more convenient for their customers.

Emphasis said they were already enjoying a 70 percent occupancy rate after only three years of operations and even without the aggressive promotions in the past.

“With what we hope to do, we are very confident that we can get more and be able to diversify the kind of clients that we have here in our property,” said Emphasis.

Cebu had its ecosystem and the resort’s vision would include making Cebu a destination for all markets, said Jonathan Nowell, Imperial Palace Waterpark Resort and Spa general manager.

“We are looking at a positive outlook especially with this new direction that we’re going into. Hopefully we can get more with the open sky policy and more airline companies coming in for more direct flights to Cebu,” said Nowell.