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Bohol expects tourist traffic to significantly increase when the Panglao-Bohol International Airport is completed in 2010.
Bidding for the P4.2-billion project will get underway in July.
Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said the airport will be finished by May 2010, the deadline set by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The airport project has been on the drawing board for over 15 years, drawing worried reactions from tourist operators who initially objected to the design which would have affected the Alona beach area.
But the governor, speaking at an 888 media forum on Tuesday, said the location’s realignment by 32 degrees toward barangay Danao has smoothed over local objections.
Panglao island’s white sand beaches is the cental location of resorts in Bohol.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) will fund P3 billion of the project cost , as well as operate and maintain the airport, said Aumentado.
The balance of P1.2 billion will come from the Dept. of Transportation and Communication.
The project has two parts, which will be executed simultaneously to beat the May 2010 deadline, said Aumentado.
Package 1, a 2.5-kilometer runway and allied facilities will be finished by April of 2010. Package 2, which covers the terminal building and allied facilities, will be done by May 2010.
About 215 hectares of land was acquired for the project. The runway will be eventually extended to 3.8 kilometers to accomodate large commercial planes.
At present, Bohol’s short domestic runway can only accomodate a 737 jet at the most.
“We are certain that more foreign airlines will come to Bohol when the airport is done,” said the governor, adding that the OFW market is another segment that will be served aside from the tourism industry.
Cebu and Bohol provinces are marketed together as complementary destinations, said Dawnie Roa, tourism regional director of Central Visayas.
A shortage of hotel rooms is a common problem for both, she said, and posed a limiting factor for the growth of tourism.
Cebu has 11,000 rooms and Bohol has 2,500 rooms.
Roa said Bohol province, whose reputation for eco-tourism is recognized here and abroad, has matured into a “stand alone” destination that “no longer depends on Cebu for its warm bodies” or visitors.
Its “crown jewel” is the world-famous Chocolate Hills.
Peter Dejaresco, Bohol Provincial Tourism Council chairman, said there was a lot of interest in buying real estate in Panglao island.
“Almost every week resorts come scouting for land to buy but they leave empty handed,” he said because lot sizes are too small.
He explained that most land in Panglao is owned by families with lot sizes only 1,000 square meters or subdivided among several persons.
Investors, however, need at least five hectares to build a hotel.
One of the new players coming up in Panglao is the Panglao Bluewaters, an extension of the Maribago Bluewaters resort in Mactan.
