The revival of the mothballed Mati Airport coupled with the successful completion of world-class facilities at the provincial government-owned Tourism Complex in the City of Mati is a “big boost” for tourism in Davao Oriental, the province declared by the national government as a Tourism Area.
“I am particularly happy that Davao Oriental will soon have an operational airport, and that is really a big boost to your tourism because with the expansion and reopening of the Mati airport, many more tourists and investors will flock to this province which was declared by the national government as a tourism area. Malaki ang potential ng Davao Oriental especially if you introduce the proper type of development in the province,” said the Tourism Regional Director of Davao, Tanya Rabat-Tan, at the sidelines of a ceremonial handover of checks from the government to the private landowners of the mothballed Mati Airport.
The provincial government of Davao Oriental, however, have bankrolled the construction of world-class facilities at the Capitol-run Tourism Complex in the City of Mati.
During the official turnover of the newly completed facilities, outgoing Governor Nelson Dayanghirang said the world-class facilities at the Tourism Complex will soon be opened to the public.
The provincial government has allocated at least P150 million for the construction of numerous tourist villas, swimming pools, a huge convention center, dormitories, an amphitheater, souvenir and coffee shops and many other world-class tourism facilities inside the sprawling provincial government-run Tourism Complex.
The provincial government of Davao Oriental said “the opportunity to develop the Tourism Complex has matured and presented itself as a need not only as economic but as service to the guests of the province as well. The primary objective is to improve the tourist facilities and services in the Tourism Complex as a complementary measure to the efforts of the national government in promoting the province as a major tourist destination in the Davao Region. This is a necessary support to the initiatives of the private sector as partners of the province in various tourism activities.”
In his speech during the turnover ceremony, Governor Dayanghirang said: “This is not designed to compete with the private enterprises. We are prompted to build these facilities because of a severe shortage of accommodation facilities in the City of Mati. As you can see, there is already a huge influx of tourists in the City of Mati and yet many of them could not be accommodated because Mati do not have enough facilities.”
P240M BUDGET FOR MATI AIRPORT
After finalizing the acquisition of the privately owned lands of the Mati Airport, the Department of Transportation said they are proposing another P240 million budget for the sprucing up and expansion projects at the Mati Airport in 2023. The government through the Department of Transportation had earlier allocated P200 million for the acquisition of the private lands at the Mati airport from its private owners. On June 28 this month, the government through the Davao Oriental Governor Nelson Dayanghirang had turned over checks to the Rabat and Rocamora families for a partial payment to the land acquisition deal for the Mati Airport. The payment would pave the way for the full ownership of the land by the government.
“Tuloy-tuloy na po yan. We will develop basic facilities of the airport like the runway that can accommodate 3C turbo props,” said Santy Zapata of the Department of Transportation who is designated as project manager of the Mati Airport. He said their agency is proposing another P240 million budget to fund the development of the Mati Airport next year as it will be designed to also accommodate international flights. Davao Oriental second district Rep. Joel Mayo Almario said he has already filed a bill in Congress that seeks to designate the Mati Airport as the official alternate to the Davao International Airport.
The regional director of the Department of Tourism in the Davao Region is quite upbeat to surpass their tourist arrivals target for the year, citing official figures of the first quarter of the year that shows a huge increase in the number of tourists visiting the Davao Region.
“There is already a significant increase in the number of tourists visiting the Davao Region. For the first quarter alone, we have recorded 452,000 tourist arrivals, way above the 280,000 of the first quarter of 2021,” said Tanya Rabat-Tan, regional director of the Department of Tourism in the Davao Region.
“Left and right na ang mga events sa Davao City and all the Davao provinces have posted a huge increase in the number of tourist arrivals. I think we will be able to surpass our target for this year which is 1.8 million,” she said.
