PASAY City—Where the fun never stops and where the fun begins!
With this slogan, Mayor Antonino Calixto is hoping to make his city not just the gateway to the Philippines but a tourist destination in itself.
At the program kicking off the countdown to Pasay’s 150th anniversary celebration later this year, Calixto said they would go all-out with their campaign to establish the city as Metro Manila’s travel capital.
This was backed up by city administrator Dennis Acorda who said they wanted to veer away from the city’s unofficial title of being the gateway to the country.
“We want Pasay to be a destination itself, a place where people stay,” Acorda added.
According to him, the city is not just home to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, it is also where one can find the Cultural Center of the Philippines, World Trade Center, Philippine International Convention Center, several world class hotels, the Mall of Asia and Resorts World.
“It’s [basically] urban tourism, we don’t have a beach, but we have malls, convention centers, entertainment and licensed gaming. For a city as small as this, our activities are high impact,” he said.
Calixto, meanwhile, described his city as an entertainment mecca and the “most exciting integrated tourist destination by the bay in the 21st century.” “We’re getting there, but more should be done,” he said.
“The administration will continue to take on the challenge to sustain the city’s growth and make it the country’s center of tourism and recreation and a world-class destination,” he added in a statement.
To attract more visitors, however and get them to stay in the city following their arrival at the airport, the city needs to address the perennial traffic problem on Edsa-Taft, the peace and order situation and cleanliness.
Calixto said some 5,000 informal settlers would be transferred to relocation sites and housing projects in Tanay, Rizal, while according to Acorda, they would be forming a task force to supervise regular garbage collection.