2 hotels seen to open in Naga before end of June

By Jason B. Neola

The Committee on Investment, Trade, Industry, and Economic Enterprise of the Sangguniang Panlungsod hailed as welcome development the operations of two more hotels in the city expected to begin in June this year.

The two accommodation facilities are: the El Sancho Hotel along J. Miranda Avenue near the City Hall compound, and The Litton Hotel along Magsaysay Avenue. Both are home-grown enterprises in the field of hotel and accomodation.

Councilor Jose Perez, committee chairperson, said it could be a good thing if the planned opening will push through before the end of the second quarter in time for the celebration of the Peñafrancia fiesta, especially when big gatherings for civic and religious activities will be permitted due to the low cases of Covid-19 in the city.

NEW HOTEL The Litton Hotel along Magsaysay Avenue in Naga City undergoes final touches. Once operational, the hotel will boost the city’s capacity to accommodate more tourists and guests. The city at present has 91 hotels, apartelles, lodging houses, residences, and tourist inns with a total bed capacity of 3,000. JBN/REY BAYLON/CEPPIO

Every September of the year, except for year 2020 and 2021 when Covid-19 pandemic was on its height, the traditional religious event is being celebrated and has been considered to be the biggest Marian event in Asia, drawing almost a million tourists, pilgrims, and devotees from different parts of the country and abroad.

Perez said that aside from providing accommodation to big gatherings, Naga is actually a trading center where businessmen converge. “And most of these traders operate their businesses not only in Naga but in other parts of the Bicol region as well, that is why the presence of accommodation facilities in our city are essential and highly in demand,” he said.

He said Naga’s strategic location makes it to become the region’s melting pot or a place where a variety of cultures or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole often results in invigoration or novelty.

At present, the city has 91 accommodation facilities compose of hotels, lodging houses, tourist inns, apartelles, residences, and town houses. Around 45 of these business establishments are accredited by the Department of Tourism. The most recent to operate in the list is Summit Hotel Naga owned by the Robinsons Holdings.

Aside from El Sancho Hotel and The Litton Hotel, two more accommodation houses owned by local players are expected to rise soon in the city: the UMA Residences along Magsaysay Avenue and the 8-storey condominium along Blumentritt and Misericordia streets in Barangay Tinago. Both facilities are undergoing constructions.