The construction of Emerald Bay Resort & Casino, a property in Cebu that’s being developed by PH Resorts Group Holdings, will continue with a projected soft opening date set for March 2022.

The casino will be located in Lapu-Lapu city and will have its first phase completed by the third quarter of next year, reports ABS-CBN News. The opening was pushed back from Q2 to Q3.

The first phase should provide guests with 600 EGMs, more than 100 gaming tables and 270 hotel rooms.

“The re-imposition of stricter quarantine measures in March earlier this year created more difficulties in the construction of Emerald Bay in terms of labor mobilisation and materials delivery just as we were generating momentum,” said Jose Angel Sueiro, COO of PH Resorts. “The timing of Emerald Bay’s first phase completion by the third quarter of next year will be ideal with the recovery already seen to be well underway by that time.”

However, PH Resorts noted that the current pandemic situation might be a suitable time to resume construction since vaccinations are boosting international travel and the tourism sector in the Philippines is slowly recovering, unlike in other Asian countries.

The nation is slowly easing quarantine measures, and the latest boost came from the Department of Tourism, which announced a total of 5,986 rooms from 13 staycation hotels in the National Capital Region can welcome guests while the region is under a General Community Quarantine with heightened restrictions.

But while leisure travel under the current quarantine conditions is allowed, the Government reminded people that the health and safety of guest and tourism workers remain the utmost priority, and “these staycation hotels, all of which are star-rated, have the capacity and have been inspected and oriented on the new normal protocols to ensure this,” said secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat.