I was surprised when I visited San Vicente’s tourism office last week and was welcomed warmly by its head, Lucy Panagsagan, who proudly showed me a framed copy of a feature story I wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 2018 highlighting the town’s 14-km Long Beach.
I couldn’t resist making a humorous comment that, after more than a decade, the expectations that story may have raised still remain unfulfilled.
San Vicente has arguably the world’s longest, and perhaps most pristine, white sand beach. Long Beach is backdropped by a vast forest wilderness. As a natural attraction, it can outstrip most Southeast Asian beaches, including those in Vietnam, which is now ASEAN’s de facto tourism flagship, surpassing Bali in tourist arrivals.
Interesting things are finally happening in San Vicente, with a major property developer having unveiled its plans and projects after more than a decade. Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corporation has announced a ₱50-billion investment to develop a 462-hectare Long Beach property with high-rise hotels, residential condominiums, commercial areas, and nature parks. It calls the project Paragua Coastown.
While Palawan possesses natural assets that rival or exceed many of Vietnam’s destinations—El Nido’s karst islands, Coron’s lakes and coral reefs, and Puerto Princesa’s Underground River—it still remains largely undiscovered. Vietnam has already welcomed 19.2 million visitors before the year even ends, which shows that Palawan is nowhere near the major leagues.
Long Beach’s white sands can outstrip most Southeast Asian beaches. Its surrounding seascape, including Port Barton’s string of small islands, offers the kind of island-hopping experiences tourists pay premium prices to enjoy in Thailand or Indonesia.
Yet compared with Vietnam, tourism investments in Palawan face uncertain returns, difficult regulatory procedures, and infrastructure deficits that turn promising projects into high-risk ventures.
Vietnam has created a policy climate where private investment can grow within a framework of sustainable development. Its numbers tell the story: nearly 19.2 million foreign visitors in the first 11 months of 2025, a 21-percent increase year-on-year, passing its pre-COVID 2019 peak of 18 million. By the third quarter of 2025, the country had recorded 15.4 million foreign arrivals, ranking first in the Asia-Pacific for growth and sixth globally, according to Vietnam’s English-language newspaper VnExpress.
Vietnam’s game-changer has been its infrastructure. The construction of Long Thanh International Airport, the expansion of Noi Bai Airport, and new facilities like Gia Binh Airport have improved regional connectivity.
What drives Vietnam’s performance is its combination of infrastructure investment and traveler-friendly policies. Vietnam now offers visa exemptions to visitors from 25 countries, with an e-visa system that has simplified entry procedures. Extended stays of up to 45 days, implemented in August 2023, have been especially attractive to European markets, which have shown growth rates between 20 and 57 percent.
Back to San Vicente. Megaworld’s Paragua Coastown project promises the kind of integrated development that could transform the town into a key player. Construction is already underway for Savoy Palawan (306 rooms) and Paragua Sands Hotel (313 rooms), along with the Oceanfront Premier Residences and commercial areas. Market analysts say the completed township could generate more than 2,300 local jobs across hospitality, construction, tourism services, and logistics.
This is the same model that has worked in Vietnam—master-planned developments that balance commercial viability with environmental protection, supported by government infrastructure and predictable regulatory processes. Long Beach has a 50-meter easement that ensures it will not follow the crowded trajectory of El Nido or Coron. The question is whether Megaworld’s investment will generate the returns needed to attract other major investors and create the critical mass required for San Vicente to become a genuine tourism destination.
In Vietnam’s policy environment, the answer would likely be yes. In the Philippines, it remains uncertain.
Vietnam’s tourism success comes from policy coherence. The government identified tourism as a strategic sector and aligned visa rules, infrastructure programs, and regulatory frameworks around that goal. Local governments work with developers to create tourism enterprise zones with clear guidelines and predictable processes.
The Philippines, by contrast, still suffers from fragmented policies. Environmental regulations, though necessary, are applied inconsistently. Local governments clash with national agencies over jurisdiction and revenue. Investment approvals remain opaque and slow. Foreign ownership restrictions limit the entry of international hotel brands and operators who could bring capital and expertise.
San Vicente could become a legitimate alternative to Vietnam’s beach destinations—not immediately, but within a medium-term horizon if the right conditions are created. This requires sustained infrastructure investment. San Vicente Airport needs expanded capacity and more flight connections with key markets like South Korea, China, and Japan, which make up 60 percent of Vietnam’s visitors. Road networks connecting the town to Puerto Princesa and other Palawan destinations also need upgrades to tourism-grade standards.
Megaworld’s investment is substantial, but turning San Vicente into a regional tourism hub will require multiple players and sustained capital over a decade or more. If investors like Megaworld are given a stable policy climate—predictable regulations, infrastructure support, streamlined approvals, and active government partnership—San Vicente can emerge as a strong alternative to Vietnam’s beach destinations.
The natural assets are already there. What is missing is the political will to build an environment where private investment can convert those assets into a viable tourism product that generates returns similar to other Southeast Asian destinations.
The question is not whether San Vicente, or the rest of Palawan, has the raw potential. The question is whether we can create the policy environment that would allow investors to bet on Long Beach and other Palawan destinations with the same confidence they now show in Vietnam.
