ISULAN, SULTAN KUDARAT — The provincial government here is set to help investors planning to start investments in hotels, resorts and other tourism businesses in the province, Gov. Datu Pax Ali Mangudadatu said at a recent event of the Department of Tourism (DOT) XII held in Manila.
Mangudadatau said that startup capital assistance is on top of local tax exemptions that the provincial government offers in doing business in the province.
“As an incentive to investors who want to establish a hotel – either in Isulan, Tacurong or Lebak in the second district of the province, we have decided to help raise capital for hotel or resort businesses for one year, aside from waiving local tax collection for a few years,” Mangudadatu told investor-participants to the 2024 SOCCSKSARGEN Investment Forum of the DOT XII-led Treasures of SOX Travel and Trade Expo in Manila last June.
“In the meantime, the provincial government will take care of promoting hotels and resort services to potential guests or visitors. So, the 1-year operation for startups in Sultan Kudarat is already covered, the young provincial chief executive pointed out.
In regard to this offer, the provincial government, in partnership with DOT XII, will bring participants of the 2024 SOCCSKSARGEN Investment Forum to Sultan Kudarat during the regional tourism summit scheduled for September.
Airfare and accommodations of potential investors coming over for September will be shouldered by the provincial government, he added.
Moreover, Mangudadatu said that aside from putting up hotels and resorts, interested investors may also consider pouring in capital in accordance with the provincial government’s development plans, such as establishing more tourist centers, a convention center, and similar facilities, as well as projects that will support the province’s growing agriculture-fishery sector.
In the agri-fishery sector, Sultan Kudarat is seeking investors that would further expand its coffee industry.
Sultan Kudarat, which contributes about a third of the country’s annual coffee yield, is being envisioned as the “Coffee Capital of the Philippines.”
Also, Mangudadatu said that the province is looking for investors who will build more fishing fleets in Sultan Kudarat’s coastal municipalities – these fishing businesses will operate in the Moro Gulf, the Celebes Sea and adjacent areas.
It is also looking forward to establishing cattle farms for dairy and meat production ventures.
Investors may also consider investing in the production of bananas, oil palm, sugarcane (muscovado sugar) rice, corn, and other commodities.
“We want to establish all of these because we want to first, use these as tool for poverty alleviation; second, keep the Philippine economy robust; and third, so that Sultan Kudarat will be known in different ways in which we are able to give our people, not just relief aids but something that can change their lives, help the economy,” Gov. Mangudadatu said. (DED – PIA Region 12)
