Visayas travel fair honors industry leaders
March 18, 2004 | 12:00am
Inspired and stirred by the remarkable success of past travel fairs, Cebu City not only hosted the recent Third Visayas Travel and Tour Fair (VTTV), but it likewise launched simultaneously the first Asia Pacific Islands Travel Mart at the Trade Hall of SM City Cebu.
Wisely diverting from the usual ribbon cutting ceremonies, the guests of honor proudly held in their hands different icons that symbolized the respective representations of the event.
Cebu Vice Governor John Gregory Osmeña had a replica of Magellan’s Cross, highlighting the birth of Christianity in Asia, while Cebu City First Lady Margot Osmeña came with a basket full of yellow ripe mangoes, underlining the wide variety of the island’s delicacies. Mandaue City councilor Alfonso Albaño arrived with a model of a galleon representing Mandaue as a trading capital. Foreign Affairs regional director brought along a mini statue of Lapu-Lapu, the first warrior who repelled foreign invaders, while Cebu Pacific vice president for commercial planning and support Rolando Nuñez carried a mask representing the fiesta islands.
This year’s VTTV had close to a hundred exhibitors from the different sectors of the travel industry, composed of airlines and shipping lines, hotels and resorts, tour operators and travel agencies, restaurants and other stakeholders in the world of travel and tourism. Six foreign destinations, namely Macau, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, had their own popular booths that highlighted the attractive destinations and features of their island.
Special awards were handed out at the end of the well-attended three-day affair.
The Macau Government Tourist Office, a perennial winner in local, national, regional and international fairs, was chosen as the overall best booth, while Cebu Pacific, the airline with more than just on time records than any in the service, which granted a 50 percent discount on outright purchase of travel tickets, won the best in marketing effort category. Qatar Airways, with its detailed information drive executed efficiently and effectively, was adjudged the most professional booth. Island Souvenir, owned and managed by the Aldeguer group of companies and Cebu’s answer to attractively priced merchandize, from key chains to hats, T-shirts and bags to a thousand other useful items for an ideal tropical holiday, won the best in product presentation.
Maryann Bringas of the Macau Government Tourist Office, Ronnie Lau of Silkair Philippines, Ritchie Tuaño of Qatar Airways, Peter Yang of Mandarin Airlines and Vivien Chan of the Hong Kong Inbound Travel Agents represented the foreign participants in the travel mart.
The indefatigable president of Del Mar Travel, Marilou Ordoñez, who is currently the determined and energetic president of the Cebu Travel and Tour Association, spearheaded the affair with the able assistance of Bernadette Jingco, managing director of Tourkonsult, a marketing and management consultancy firm.
Tourism region VII director Dawnie Roa acknowledged with gratitude the P1 million assistance shared by the City of Cebu with the tourism-oriented industry in showcasing the best of the islands to forge meaningful partnership with international travel and tourism players thus institutionalizing the travel fair as a major event in February for the succeeding years.
Wisely diverting from the usual ribbon cutting ceremonies, the guests of honor proudly held in their hands different icons that symbolized the respective representations of the event.
Cebu Vice Governor John Gregory Osmeña had a replica of Magellan’s Cross, highlighting the birth of Christianity in Asia, while Cebu City First Lady Margot Osmeña came with a basket full of yellow ripe mangoes, underlining the wide variety of the island’s delicacies. Mandaue City councilor Alfonso Albaño arrived with a model of a galleon representing Mandaue as a trading capital. Foreign Affairs regional director brought along a mini statue of Lapu-Lapu, the first warrior who repelled foreign invaders, while Cebu Pacific vice president for commercial planning and support Rolando Nuñez carried a mask representing the fiesta islands.
This year’s VTTV had close to a hundred exhibitors from the different sectors of the travel industry, composed of airlines and shipping lines, hotels and resorts, tour operators and travel agencies, restaurants and other stakeholders in the world of travel and tourism. Six foreign destinations, namely Macau, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, had their own popular booths that highlighted the attractive destinations and features of their island.
Special awards were handed out at the end of the well-attended three-day affair.
The Macau Government Tourist Office, a perennial winner in local, national, regional and international fairs, was chosen as the overall best booth, while Cebu Pacific, the airline with more than just on time records than any in the service, which granted a 50 percent discount on outright purchase of travel tickets, won the best in marketing effort category. Qatar Airways, with its detailed information drive executed efficiently and effectively, was adjudged the most professional booth. Island Souvenir, owned and managed by the Aldeguer group of companies and Cebu’s answer to attractively priced merchandize, from key chains to hats, T-shirts and bags to a thousand other useful items for an ideal tropical holiday, won the best in product presentation.
Maryann Bringas of the Macau Government Tourist Office, Ronnie Lau of Silkair Philippines, Ritchie Tuaño of Qatar Airways, Peter Yang of Mandarin Airlines and Vivien Chan of the Hong Kong Inbound Travel Agents represented the foreign participants in the travel mart.
The indefatigable president of Del Mar Travel, Marilou Ordoñez, who is currently the determined and energetic president of the Cebu Travel and Tour Association, spearheaded the affair with the able assistance of Bernadette Jingco, managing director of Tourkonsult, a marketing and management consultancy firm.
Tourism region VII director Dawnie Roa acknowledged with gratitude the P1 million assistance shared by the City of Cebu with the tourism-oriented industry in showcasing the best of the islands to forge meaningful partnership with international travel and tourism players thus institutionalizing the travel fair as a major event in February for the succeeding years.
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