MANILA, Philippines - Three foreign governments, 18 airlines, 23 big travel companies, and 20 lifestyle firms, including international themeparks Ocean Park Hong Kong and Resorts World Manila, are among the many exhibitors to offer bargain deals at the forthcoming Travel Madness Expo 2013.
The expo exhibitors also include cruise lines, tour operators, and BPI Credit Cards to enable visitors to grab discounted travel and tour packages at rock-bottom prices.
The surge in the number of airlines and cruise lines participating in this year’s Travel Madness is attributed to President Aquino’s recent signing of Republic Act 10374 exempting foreign carriers from paying the three-percent common carrier’s tax and the value added tax imposed on passenger traffic, according to Travel Madness organizer Travel Innovators Inc. (TII), an organization of industry-leading firms in the tourism sector.
“Thus, we are seeing brisk marketing activities of current industry players in anticipating vigorous competition from new entrants, all resulting in increased inbound and outbound travel benefiting global tourism,†said TII president Raymond Michael Tee.
“Even national tourism organizations of foreign governments like Malaysia and Thailand and the Japanese embassy are joining Travel Madness because of the impact of tourism as a dollar earner and economic equalizer, practically compensating for any slump in export and virtually providing hard currency for any monetary crunch while stabilizing and beefing up a country’s gross international reserves against any external financial shocks,†Tee said.
“So, now we are seeing Travel Madness doing more than its role of perking up the industry during the lean season by making tourism a year-round affair and generating dollars on-site with almost a hundred percent local content,†he added, referring to native products being bought and consumed by foreign buyers without having to be exported.
Tee said visitors to Travel Madness 2013 could expect even better deals since this second edition of the annual expo would be the “craziest and most innovative sale of the year ever.â€
The expo has gained enormous popularity for “jaw-dropping and out-of-this-world travel deals†that made its first edition last year reap praises from guests and partners in the Philippines and overseas.
The visitors found themselves grabbing bargain offers at “unbelievable†prices, with freebies from the expo’s Extreme Madness Hour raffle draws, and shockingly drop-down-low travel deals popping out on certain times of the hour.
Still, Tee said this year’s Travel Madness will go even crazier than it has ever been, as he acknowledges the support of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, Philippine Airlines, Skycable-TLC, Air Asia, Duty Free Philippines and many more.
The expo is slated at the SMX Convention Center Halls 3 & 4, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City on July 12-14. For more information, contact TII at 02 311-7500, 02 810-4520 or 02 313-7276, or e-mail at travelmadnessexpo@gmail.com.