Durano to lead Cebu bigwigs in PITF

CEBU, Philippines - Tourism Secretary Ace Durano will lead a host of socio-political kingpins and industry bigwings in kicking off the Philippine International Tourism fair (PITF) 2009 at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu at 10:30 a.m today.

Durano will be joined at the PITF ribbon-cutting rites by Phillippine Tourism Authority general manager Mark Lapid, guest of honor Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña, Central Visayas Regional Director Dawnie Roa of the Department of Tourism (DOT), and chairman Angel Ramos Bognot, chairman emeritus Robert Lim Joseph and president Sheilla Johnson of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies Inc. (NAITAS), the event organizer.

Bognot will formally announce the opening of the PITF right after Durano’s keynote speech. which will be preceded by a special message by Garcia, opening remarks by Joseph, and welcome statement by Osmeña as the DOT team heads usher in the foreign delegates from around the world.

Capping the PITF opening rites is a Cebu goverment-hosted “Mabuhay Luncheon” at he hotel’s grand ballroom, with some 400 performers from the group   “Cebu Sings to the World” providing the cultural and musical extravaganza.

Participating in this 3rd PITF are a horde of foreign buyers of tourism packages and 73 local sellers, including 35 corporate exhibitors.

The foreign buyers include big travel agents Seat Holidays from the Middle East, Asia Pacific Travel from North America and Comfort International Travel Service from China, and many others from Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Japan, and Canada, according to project manager Tess Mauricio of the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC), the marketing arm the DOT.

The PCVC manages the PITF’s one-day Travel Market Exchange (Tramex), where the foreign buyers and the local sellers will engage in an intensive business-to-business and face-to-face transactions and networking tomorrow, June 26.

Tramex has been contributing significantly to the consistent rise in the volume of foreign visitor arrivals to the Philippines since its first staging in 2007.

Also poised to greet the foreign buyers at today’s PITF opening are the colorful exhibits of the country’s finest tourism destinations, attractions, facilities, products and services, all beautifully laid out at the venue.

Bognot said, however, that the limited exhibit space could accommodate only 39 display booths, which were all immediately taken by Cenu’s top stakeholders and various corporate tourism entities from Manila and other parts of the archipelago.

Similarly comprising the PITF 2009 are product and market development seminars, marketing presentations, product launches, pre- and post-event tours, NAITAS general assembly, and many other activities.

Supported by the DOT and its attached agencies PCVC and the PTA, the PITF 2009 is sponsored by the Philippine Airlines as official carrier, Marco Polo Plaza Cebu as official hotel and venue, the provincial government of Cebu, Marriott Hotel, Ayala Center, Graphic Star as the official printing company, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Pagcor, Ralph’s Wines and Spirits, Coltrans Cargo, Informatics, the city governments of Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Cebu, the Quezon City government, the provincial government pf Ilocos Sur and the San Miguel Brewery Inc., The Freeman and Cebu Daily News as media partners.

The country’s premier and only global travel event held annually in Cebu, the PITF underscores the successful working partnership between the government and the private sector as highlighted by the full support of Durano, Garcia and many other officials of the local government and the DOT.

“In fact, the PITF itself is NAITAS’ response to the call of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for the development of Central Visayas as the country’s tourism super-region and travel hub, being at the center of the entire archipelago,” Bognot said.