Travel agents from ASEAN joining NorthPhil Expo

MANILA, Philippines - Wholesale travel agents from a number of the country’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) fellow member-nations are coming over to buy tour and travel packages from North Philippines (NorthPhil) and promote and sell them in their captive markets back home.

Coming from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, the travel agents will arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila and Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark on Nov. 14 in time for their participation as foreign buyers in the NorthPhil Tourism and Travel Expo 2013 slated at the SM City Clark on Nov. 15-17.

The foreign buyers will have an overnight stay in a hotel in Clark, then in the following day tour the Clark Freeport, visit a Christmas lantern factory, and experience Pampanga’s culinary delights before joining the opening of the NorthPhil Expo at 4 p.m.

The expo will showcase the region’s water resources management and conservation efforts in support of the United Nations International Year of Water and World Tourism Day theme “Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future.”

A public-private partnership effort of the northern regional offices of the Department of Tourism, the Association of Tourism Officers of Central Luzon, and the Philippine Exhibits and Themeparks Corp. (PETCO), the expo will share with the world the wonders of water of NorthPhil and its vast marine and fresh water resources as among its diverse tourism attractions, according to DOT-Central Luzon director Ronnie Tiotuico.

“Travel and tour packages and services featuring these scenic destinations are what the foreign buyers and the local sellers will do business with when they meet the following day,” Tiotuico said.

This so-called “Buyers Meet Sellers” program will enable NorthPhil travel firms and tourism establishments to promote and sell their services and destinations abroad through reputable travel trade players, such as the visiting wholesale agents from Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand.

The foreign buyers, along with hordes of other visitors, will also view the NorthPhil Expo’s wide array of exhibits, which include new and emerging tourism and travel destinations, products and services, provincial pavilions, and corporate booths offering affordable and exciting package tours.

The exhibitors include companies in agri-tourism, eco-tourism, timeshare and leisure properties, airlines and air alliances, hotels and resorts, national and local government agencies, restaurants, retirement villages, spa resorts and destinations, theme parks and amusement centers, foreign tourism boards, tourism transport operators, travel and tourism associations, publications, travel insurance, and wellness centers, among others.

The expo will also treat visitors to three days of fun involving cultural presentations, raffle draws of airline tickets and hotel accommodations, flairtending competition, quiz challenge, corporate game shows, crafts, culinary demonstrations, and food festival.

The expected visitors are conference and convention organizers from the Philippines and abroad, educational institutions, government entities, international and domestic travelers, local, foreign and corporate buyers, tour organizers, planners and holiday specialists, travel agents and tour operators, travel enthusiasts, and the general public.

The event’s venue is a 17-hectare lifestyle hub with over 300 shops and restaurants, and frequented by over 60,000 visitors daily, as the mall sits prominently in a popular international tourism destination in Central Luzon.

This annual expo has been drawing local and international attention to North Philippines, which hosts a diverse but contiguous sprawl of tourism attractions boasting two international gateways — the Clark and Subic international freeports.

For more information on the expo, contact PETCO at (632) 832-9303 to 05, fax at (632) 556-2723, e-mail at northphilexpo@gmail.com or log on to www.northphilexpo.com.