GGRAsia – Casino op Bloomberry confirms cruise port unit

Casino op Bloomberry confirms cruise port unit

Jul 29, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

Casino promoter Bloomberry Resorts Corp has confirmed in a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it has set up a unit to “establish, manage and operate” cruise terminals.

Bloomberry Resorts, which runs the Solaire Resort and Casino (pictured) in the country’s capital, Manila, said cruise ship facilities to be run by the new unit – Bloomberry Cruise Terminals Inc – would be a “complementary line of business” to its “tourism and leisure business”.

Bloomberry Resorts had flagged to investors such a plan in a filing last year.

Earlier this month a person described as an advisor to Bloomberry Cruise Terminals was quoted saying some cruise passenger reception facilities at Salomague in the far northern Philippines were likely to be operational from December onwards.

Work on a Manila cruise terminal – to the called the “Solaire Cruise Center” according to the person – was to go out to tender during the third quarter this year, with the aim of having the site operational by the third quarter of 2021.

Friday’s filing stated: “The operation of this new company will start with the tender facility that Bloomberry Resorts’ subsidiary Sureste Properties Inc will establish under a lease with the Philippine Ports Authority in the port of Salomague in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur.”

It added: “Another cruise terminal project that this new company will manage in the future is the proposed Solaire Cruise Center and Yacht Harbor.”

The latter would be developed by Sureste Properties and be “adjacent to and linked with Solaire Resort and Casino at the Entertainment City in Paranaque City, subject to regulatory approvals,” said the filing.

The announcement further stated: “The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority has recently approved the designation of the proposed Solaire Cruise Center and Yacht Harbor as a Tourism Enterprise Zone, subject to certain conditions.”

According to a November report from the Philippine News Agency, a government media outlet, Tourism Enterprise Zone-designated areas are granted fiscal and non-fiscal incentives such as a six-year income tax holiday, 5 percent gross income taxation, and tax- and duty-free importation of goods and services.