Int’l Travel Festival lures global & local exhibitors | International Travel Festival
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Being blessed
with the country’s longest yuletide season or the
fun in the Philippines gaining global recognition, but all roads at this early
seem to lead to the SMX Convention Center Manila for an International Travel
Festival come December 10-11.
And
International Travel Festival is
certain to emerge, with worldwide service provider Amadeus and the British,
Turkish and European chambers of commerce setting the pace for the influx of
other Manila and foreign-based global exhibitors in the event.
This
Christmas gathering of global tourism players is matched only by the
convergence of their similarly increasing number of local counterparts at the
festival led by the various regional
offices of the Department of Tourism nationwide and its attached agency Tourism
Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority.
The
local exhibitors include tourism destinations in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao –
from Cagayan Valley in the North to Palawan in the West, all the way to South
Cotabato, Cotabato City, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City in
Region 12.
Thus,
the nation is bound to see a vast cosmopolitan crowd whirling around the scene
of the International Travel Festival (ITF) 2013, now covering, not only what
used to be a solely inbound promotional event dubbed “Travel Philippines Show”,
but also outbound travel named “Euro-AmeriAsian Travel, Trade & Cultural
Expo.”
“ So expect both inbound and outbound
tourism destinations featured in the ITF,” said chief executive officer
Mitch Ballesteros of expo organizer Exlink Events.
“The fast growing registration of
participants in the festival affirms the global tourism industry’s increasing momentum
for sustained growth, with vacationing OFWs (overseas Filipinos worldwide) adding
impetus to the phenomenon,” Ballesteros said.
Practically
promoting a genuine two-way tourism traffic, the ITF is seen to contribute
substantially to the continued rise in global tourism, now reportedly worth an
estimated $1.15 trillion from a yearly revenue hike of 1.5 percent over the
past five years.
Ballesteros
said the outbound trips of foreign-based international airlines flying
Filipinos to overseas destinations would also have a beneficial impact on
inbound travel since they would have to promote the Philippines in their home
countries to be able fill up airline seats on their return flights.
“Thus, the net effect of brisk inbound and
outbound travel is a thriving tourism industry that gets a boost from both
ends,” Ballesteros earlier explained, citing tourism’s total contribution of
$6.3 trillion and 255 million jobs to the global economy in 2011 alone.”
To participate
mostly in the ITF, therefore, are numerous exhibitors involved in both inbound
and outbound businesses such as airlines, international hotel and resort chains,
travel agencies, tour operators, MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conventions
and events) organizers, shopping malls and global retail brands.
Also expected to
participate in the ITF on December 10 to 11 are transfers and transport firms,
cruise ships and domestic passenger vessels, telecommunication companies,
destination owners and managers, banks and financial institutions, and the
academe and various service providers, among many others.
More information about the ITF can be obtained from Exlink Events (tel: 632 6433887; mobile: 0920 9242532, 0920 9814376; email: info@exlinkevents.com; or visit www.exlinkevents.com).
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