Legazpi as country’s next economic, tourism hub

Legazpi City is fast-rising as an economic and tourism hub with its massive infrastructure development, better governance, business growth, and big influx of foreign and domestic tourists, “Our city ranks fifth as fast-rising city in the Philippines in terms of infrastructure and business development and in peace and order situation based on an Asian Institute of Management (AIM) study,” Mayor Geraldine Rosal said.

A recent study made by AIM disclosed that Legazpi will be the next hub after Davao and Cebu in terms of infrastructure development, business growth, and notable peace and order condition.

The development of Legazpi is expected to accelerate further because the city government, under the Private-Public Partnership (PPP), will put up a P300-billion reclamation project within coastal Puro-Dapdap area here, she said.

Rosal said the city government is fast-tracking the P500-million Legazpi City Urban Drainage Project known as the pumping stations at Tibu and Baybay rivers to resolve the perennial flooding problem during rainy seasons.

The city government is also anticipating the operation of the Southern Luzon International Airport two years from now where new developments are being done in the seaside coast up to the road network that connects to the proposed airport in Barangay Alobo in neighboring Daraga town.

“We will also build manmade amenities like water sports in Barangay Puro where our new development is located to cater to the increasing demands of visiting tourists and in preparation for the operation of the international airport,” Rosal said.

The Regional Development Council (RDC) headed by Salceda aimed to turn Bicol as the country’s most livable region in 2020.

Aside from fast rapid development, Legazpi has been the hub of big convention events. Last year, the city government hosted at least 12 big national convention activities where 16,000 people throughout the Philippines and other countries converged.

The series of national convention events in this city brought about higher economic growth, increase in the number of tourist arrivals and created new jobs with the opening of several hotels here.

Currently, there are 1,000 rooms available in the city but, Rosal said, there is a need for at least 500 additional rooms to be more competitive for big conventions in the future.