The connector
Credit to Author: Leah C. Salterio| Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2019 16:16:49 +0000
Twenty-eight years ago, businessman Cedric M. Sazon took a bold step and launched Southwest Tours (Boracay) with only a single 18-seater coaster that plied just Aklan province in Western Visayas. Today, his company has risen to become one of the country’s largest tourist transport providers, operating 200 mini buses, vans, cars, taxi cabs and speedboats, and serving over 2 million passengers.
Now, it’s not only Aklan, which Southwest Tours serves, but also Roxas City, Capiz, Bacolod, Negros Occidental and Bohol and Iloilo provinces.
It all began in 1991 when Cedric noticed that visitors suffered from the lack of tourist transport services in Aklan. “No company was catering to the needs of guests arriving at Kalibo airport, the only aviation hub in the province,” Cedric recalls. “There were two flights daily, compared with the roughly more than 40 flights a day currently.”
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Southwest Tours (Boracay)
“The short-term sacrifice that the Boracay stakeholders had to endure will later result in the lasting protection of the environment… we are the ones who will mainly benefit from the cleaner beaches and proper sewage and zoning, infrastructure development, and environmental compliance.”“
Cedric felt the strong urge to find a solution. “I saw an opportunity to create point-to-point transfers to Boracay, providing convenience, especially at the time when jeepneys and tricycles were the only way to move around Aklan.”
As in various startups, there were birth pains to contend with such as lack of readily available capital and limited supply of vehicles, which had to be ordered from abroad. Fortunately, Cedric’s family members and close friends came to his rescue with funds to nurture his vision of a well-connected destination and keep operations going. After three decades in the tourism industry, Southwest Tours has experienced episodes of expansion which, Cedric vows, will continue.
He says: “One basic growth strategy that I keep I mind is to align fleet investment with the number of flights per airport, while taking into account the development of multiple resorts in tourist destinations. These are the two main drivers of passenger traffic.”
Besides being present in Region 6 (Western Visayas), Southwest Tours is now also in Region 7 (Central Visayas). The company plantilla consists of about 520 employees.
Cedric regards the six-month rehabilitation of Boracay Island as a positive development that has sustainability as its goal. “The short-term sacrifice that the Boracay stakeholders had to endure will later result in the lasting protection of the environment,” he says. “After all, we are the ones who will mainly benefit from the cleaner beaches and proper sewage and zoning, infrastructure development and environmental compliance.”
Born in Silay, Negros Occidental and raised in Numancia, Aklan, Cedric was always keen on becoming an entrepreneur. The eldest of four children of Roberto Sazon Sr. and wife Editha, Cedric took up Bachelor of Science in Inland Fisheries at the University of the Philippines in Miag-ao, Iloilo.
He and his spouse, Dr. Pauleen Sazon, have produced a brood of four: Roberto Bien, Celeen Denise, Cedric Paul and Eva Marie.
During the free time that he can carve out of a hectic work schedule, the logistics honcho travels with his family. Time management, he insists, involves planning ahead with the right people and working in tandem with a team to execute the company’s blueprint. “Regardless of the number of meetings that I need to participate in, the key factor always rests on the desire to make time for your commitments.”
Cedric’s faith in Boracay, the centerpiece of Aklan province — his work base and home — burns fiercely. He is convinced it will remain not only as the country’s top holiday playground, but Asia’s as well. “Especially now that Boracay is more environmentally stable.”
As if to back up his belief, Conde-Nast Traveler, that bible of leisure travel junkies, included Boracay in its top 30 resort destinations in 2019. The icing on the cake had the “itty bitty island (just under 4 square miles) in the Western Philippines,” as the publication described it, firmly in first place in its list of the five best resort spots in Asia, with Palawan at No. 4 (trumping, gasp, iconic Bali, Indonesia) and Cebu in the Visayas at No. 2. The fact that Boracay was shuttered for half a year apparently did not fail to dim the affection of countless vacationer and beach bum fans.
Cedric adds: “I think Boracay will continue to be known globally due to its powdery white sand beaches.
“Another reason is that two airports, Kalibo International Airport and Caticlan Airport on the island, now make it very accessible. Batangas port is also helping tourists get to Caticlan very easily. These ‘fly and cruise’ options are spurring the growth of the tourism industry here.”
For the high-energy businessman, all these point in one direction. “That Boracay with its reputation as a top tourist destination is here to stay.”
And so will Cedric M. Sazon.
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About me
ROLE MODEL
John Gokongwei. I love his being a disruptor of business through the use of innovation.
GOAL
To see Southwest Tours go nationwide
FIRST PAYING JOB
I was a domestic sales agent for Philippine Airlines in Boracay for two years.
MORNING RITUAL
Walking for an hour
LIFE FACT
I travel whenever possible. It gives me an opportunity to compare the systems of various countries.
TIME SPENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
I’m really not into it.