Destinations

Taking every opportunity to discover new places to visit, the Destinations Holiday and Travel Show allows you to be inspired. It featured leading tourist boards and independent travel companies together with a full range of travel collections.

One big highlight at the show was a taste of Philippine art and music in which The Lahing Kayumanggi Dance Company (a London-based Philippine cultural dance troupe) courtesy of the Philippine Department of Tourism performed an attention grabbing presentation that introduced a few of many traditional Philippine Dances. The dances included the colourful “Binasuan” (with the use of a drinking glass) that was performed so gracefully with the impressive use of balance that kept the crowd cheering! Then, loud sounds of bamboo poles started clapping together to the daring and skilful “Tinikling” dance. I then felt the international audience embracing the Filipino Culture with open arms! The show ended with a popular Filipino folk song, “Bahay Kubo” sung by the members of the group. This colorful presentation proved that many had shown so much interest and appreciation towards our very own custom making this troupe the absolute star of the show! Well done, you’ve made The Philippines so proud!

I also cannot deny that there were many other talented performers from different countries who did a fantastic job by introducing their very own traditions to a big audience. One lively performance that drew my attention was the Brazilian Capoeira, a practice that involved a combination of clapping, drumming, dancing, singing and fighting moves. The movements and music they created were just so incredible!

I thought that it was very interesting to be in the same space where mixtures of different cultures from all over the world were put together. This experience was a familiarization to where diversity is reflected and a very good way to introduce tourism.