LIO ESTATE, EL NIDO PALAWAN PROVINCE

Lio is the country’s first sustainable tourism estate development. Located in El Nido and vetted by travel experts as one of the world’s most beautiful islands, local economies depend mainly on tourism. The challenge was to pursue a tourism model promoting environmental stewardship and community engagement.

Lio Tourism Estate is a top destination for the protection of nature, and landscape and scenery. It is the first masterplanned integrated, mixed use, and ecologically sustainable tourism destination.

Its mother company, Ayala Land Inc, has had a long history of successful masterplanned integrated, mixed use communities, overcoming the challenges that come with it.

The development is an iterative process of continuous surveys and re-alignments because of its commitment to keep the landscape as natural as possible. Acknowledging ecosystems services and aligning with nature make for ex- cellent site resiliency.

Preserving waterways, mangrove stands, and surrounding forests will protect it against floods. Its decision to establish 40-meter beach setbacks instead of 20, as required by law, makes it better equipped for storm surges. The commitment to native vegetation also saves it costly landscaping inputs.

The projected outcome of these preparations is a community that will exist for a long time and will provide sustained opportunities for customers to connect with nature.