The ceremony was attended by no less than President Johnson Toribiong and Taiwan Ambassador Maggie Tien.
Hwang Seon Ju, Palau Ocean Resort Inc. President and CEO welcomed the guests of the groundbreaking ceremony.The construction of the $20 million project will start on July 1 and is expected to finish by June 30, 2011.President Toribiong said he is happy that despite the global economic recession and the declining number of tourist coming to Palau, the management of Palau Ocean Resort has shown faith in the potential of tourist industry.“I hope they succeed and I will do my best to make sure that they succeed because their success is our success too, it would mean prosperity for Palau and their failure is our failure too,” the President said.The President also asked the owner to make sure that the environment is protected while building the hotel.“Whatever they do they should think about how to improve the quality of the environment and I also ask them to respect and honor our culture and to provide employment opportunities to the people of Palau especially to those who live in the vicinity,”Toribiong said in an interview.The President said quality environment is still the number one attraction of tourism and not casino or shopping centers or night life.Hwang in his speech said that Palau Ocean Resort will open the dawn of the 21st century of the Pacific Basin Community.He said the new Resort will be in communion with Palau’s natural beauty and will make Palau even more valuable and charming.He said he will create not only first hand jobs but also second had jobs for Palauan that will help increase the quality of life for everyone.Palau Ocean Resort will have 185 rooms and will have state of the art facilities.Hwang is a businessman from Korea. He is own hotels in Korea.He said he fell in love with the beauty of Palau during his first visit in 2006.
