Expo seen to pull NorthPhil into SE Asia’s tourism loop

MANILA, Philippines - While strategically located at the center of the archipelagic Southeast Asia, the Philippines is practically out of the region’s tourism loop, which runs half a ring along the northwestern and southeastern fronts — from Thailand and Vietnam to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The loop makes land-based travel among those countries possible, even by rail, leaving the Philippines at the center isolated by the surrounding seas.

“That is exactly the reason why the Philippines is not frequented by backpack tourists, who do cross-country travel by land in huge numbers or volume,” says Central Luzon director Ronnie Tiotuico of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

“So we are addressing that challenge squarely through the NorthPhil (North Philippines) Tourism and Travel Expo, which promotes the country also to the cross-country travelers willing to take either luxury or budget airlines for short-haul trips from any part of Southeast Asia to our international airport in Clark,” Tiotuico says.

“Thus, the NorthPhil expo can help make central and northern Luzon part of the regional tours starting off from our neighboring countries and practically putting our destinations into the Southeast Asian loop,” Tiotuico adds, stressing the significance of the event and the participation of wholesale travel agents from Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, all member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

They are coming over to buy travel packages from NorthPhil exhibitors and promote and sell them in their captive markets back home, including tourists coming from other continents booking for an ASEAN tour.

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 in the NorthPhil expo slated at the SM City Clark on Nov. 15-17.

“Travel and tour packages and services featuring these scenic destinations are what the foreign buyers and the local sellers will do business with,” Tiotuico says.

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 packaged tours.

The exhibits include agri- and eco-tourism, time share 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 many others.

Organized by the DOT’s northern regional offices, the Association of Tourism Officers of Central Luzon, and the Philippine Exhibits and Themeparks Corp. (PETCO), the expo is supported by Cebu Pacific Air as airline partner and by Manila North Tollways Corp., Philippine Retirement Authority, Tiger Air Philippines, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority as corporate partners.

The expo is also supported by The Manor at Camp John Hay, Le Monet Hotel, Lewis Grand Hotel, Antel Best Western Plus, Widus Hotel and Casino, Microtel by Wyndham, and the City of San Fernando as special partners, with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Clark International Airport Corp., Clark Development Authority and the provinces of Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac as destination partners, and Business Mirror, Sunstar, CLTV 36 and Punto Central Luzon as media partners.

For more information on the expo, contact PETCO at (632) 8329303 to 05, fax at (632) 556-2723, e-mail at northphilexpo@gmail.com or visit www.northphilexpo.com.