Inside Andrew Tan’s $720 million ecotourism project within the country’s pristine beach paradise.
From Jonathan BurgosForbes contributor
TThe pitch represents a tropical paradise: turquoise waters lapping a pristine coast lined with lush, misty greenery. Philippine real estate giant Megaworld on his Facebook page praises some great benefits of the island of Palawan, the most important of a 1,780 archipelago of the identical name, which lies to the left of the island state within the Pacific. Here Megaworld is pursuing its most complex project to this point, a resort and residential complex, the most important real estate development on the island to this point.
On 462 hectares in San Vicente, a quiet, relatively untouched corner of Palawan’s northern coast known for its wealthy biodiversity, virgin forests, steep karst cliffs and the longest white-sand beach within the Philippines, Megaworld has a 15-year plan to construct an It says said it’s an environmentally friendly addition to its nationwide hotel, office, retail and residential portfolio. Once accomplished, Paragua Coastown will include two ten-story hotels, a condominium, villas, a hospital, a college and wellness centers.
Megaworld, owned by billionaire Andrew Tan’s liquor-to-real estate conglomerate Alliance Global Group, is investing over 40 billion pesos ($720 million) in the corporate – a tenth of what the corporate plans to spend over the following five years construction of townships within the Philippines. The company hopes to get in on the bottom floor because the island re-emerges as one among the country’s hottest tourist destinations. According to government data, about 1.5 million people, including about 650,000 foreign travelers, visited the island in 2023, almost twice as many because the previous 12 months, as tourists return to the Philippines after Corona. (Boracay, the archipelago’s hottest resort island, had over 2 million visitors last 12 months.) “We intend to showcase the best concepts in sustainable tourism and green living by developing it into an ecotourism community,” says Kevin Tan, Andrews eldest son and CEO of Megaworld Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer says via email.
Andrew Tan (left), chairman of liquor-to-real estate conglomerate Alliance Global, and his eldest son Kevin Tan, CEO of Alliance Global.
COURTESY OF ALLIANCE GLOBAL
San Vicente is taken into account the following milestone within the island’s business expansion, joining Palawan’s other island centers where tourism is prospering, including the capital Puerto Princesa City (home to the 8.2-kilometer-long underground river that could be a UNESCO World Heritage Site). and El Nido, a community of small islands on the northern tip of Palawan that has grow to be a playground for backpackers and jet setters alike in recent times. Ayala Land, controlled by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family, has already made a reputation for itself as El Nido’s largest developer, owning the 325-hectare Lio tourist area and 4 other resorts on town’s smaller islands.
Megaworld broke ground last 12 months on its 306-room Savoy Hotel Palawan and the nearby 189-unit Oceanfront Premier Residences tower, each scheduled for completion in 2028. Construction has yet to start on the 313-room Paragua Sands Hotel, which is able to open in 2029.
Most rooms have water views and the mountain climbing trails of the Pagdanan Mountains, home to endangered wildlife akin to the Philippine cockatoo, imperial pigeon and blue-naped parrot, are only a brief drive away.
Megaworld is constructing Paragua Coastown (left) along the coconut palm-lined (right) coast of San Vicente on the island of Palawan within the Philippines.
Jonathan Burgos for Forbes Asia
“Our vision for Paragua Coastown is more than just sustainable tourism, it is to provide an opportunity for those who want to live the island life in a lush and sustainable landscape,” says Tan. To that end, Megaworld will incorporate solar and other renewable energy sources into the constructing’s design, he says. As a part of a brand new waste disposal system and wastewater treatment center, there will probably be a waste incineration plant that may provide electricity to the community.
About 40% of Paragua Coastown’s land area is about aside for open (albeit landscaped) areas, while a mangrove forest reserve stays untouched along its boundaries. Megaworld also plans to plant 1000’s of trees on 100 acres cleared by business logging, once a mainstay of the local economy, and convert the mostly dirt paths utilized by San Vicente’s 30,000 residents right into a road network in and to expand the property.
Ana Margarita Luster-Malijan, vice chairman of local hotelier and construction company Arlustre Group, believes such developments will probably be a serious boon for Palawan as they may bring jobs and income to the island, where about 15% of the population is below the poverty line. It is also the turning point to enhance the world’s accessibility. There is an airport in San Vicente, but Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, two of the country’s largest airlines, don’t fly there. Getting to San Vicente means a 90-minute flight from Manila or Cebu to Puerto Princesa and a bumpy four-hour drive through rough terrain. Michael Szucs, CEO of Cebu Pacific, tells Forbes Asia that the airline will consider flying to San Vicente once the Megaworld hotels are built.
Tourists visit the Puerto Princesa underground river (top left), a UNESCO World Heritage site, while a wild boar roams Coconut Beach in San Vicente. View of the famous white sand beach of San Vicente (right).
Jonathan Burgos for Forbes Asia
In addition to attracting local developers, Palawan has also grow to be a hub for international hotel brands. “Palawan is an attractive destination that combines cultural richness with natural landscapes,” Raj Menon, Marriott’s president for Asia Pacific excluding China, said via email. The US group will expand its recently opened 168-room Four Points by Sheraton on Sabang Beach, near Puerto Princesa’s underground river, by over 70 rooms this 12 months to fulfill demand. Wyndham Hotels’ American hotel chains Best Western and Microtel have also established a presence on the island.
Megaworld has begun marketing the Paragua Coastown residential units, which is able to range from 32-square-meter studios to 106-square-meter two-bedroom suites, and expects them to generate sales of around P2.3 billion . Megaworld doubled down on its commitment to Palawan, announcing in December that it might spend one other 7 billion pesos to develop a mixed-use complex on a 6-hectare oceanfront property in Puerto Princesa. The business, hotel and residential project, called Baytown Palawan, is anticipated to take five years to finish. “Palawan has always been a hotspot for local and international tourists,” says Tan.
Bucket list
International visitors to the Philippines have step by step returned but remain below pre-pandemic levels.
Palawan is not the Tans’ only tourist draw; they’re constructing resorts, retail spaces and convention facilities across the archipelago, including tourist hotspots Boracay, Cebu and Davao. Megaworld’s hospitality operations accounted for over 5% of the corporate’s P69.7 billion revenue in 2023, and the corporate expects the business to account for a minimum of 10% of revenue by 2028.
Andrew Tan founded Megaworld within the late Eighties, pioneering the city-within-a-city living concept within the Philippines. The company now counts 24 townships nationwide (one other seven are under construction) and is a component of its sprawling business empire under Alliance Global, which incorporates a majority stake in Emperador, owner of the Dalmore whiskey and Fundador brandy brands, and a stake in Filipino franchisee McDonalds. Tan ranked eleventh on the list of the Philippines’ 50 richest people in 2023, with a net price of $2.4 billion.
“Expanding our townships across the Philippines will support our growth as a company and allow us to also diversify our offerings in the real estate industry,” says son Kevin, who can also be vice chairman and CEO of Alliance Global. “These developments allow us to have a significant impact across all sectors of the economy.”
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