Tourism industry braces for Travel Madness 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Foreign and local tourism companies led by industry bigwigs are in a frenzy as they prepare for this year’s biggest and prestigious international event dubbed Travel Madness Expo 2014.

The frenzy stems from the enormous business volume generated by the two-year Travel Madness in as many years, setting record highs that are seen to be surpassed only by the same event in July this year.

Thus, even at this early, there is a growing scramble for display booths, including jockeying for choice slots in the Travel Madness exhibit area, forcing the organizers to book three of the four halls of the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia complex to accommodate as many exhibitors and visitors as possible.

“Many of the exhibitors are trying to grab as much space as they can to acquire prominent visibility and brand presence in the Travel Madness because of its consistent track record as a crowd-drawer,” said Pat Alberto, vice president of Travel Innovators Inc., the event organizer.

“So we are out to make this year’s Travel Madness the biggest and most exciting ever, benefiting both industry players and consumers to the hilt,” Alberto said.

The Travel Madness Expo is widely credited for the multi-sectoral success in turning tourism into a brisk all-year-round activity by making onsite advance booking a regular practice to cover the slack during the lean months.

“The Travel Madness scheme of putting the entire industry under one roof for the public’s advance bookings and travel buys continues to work in making tourism a business for all seasons,” Alberto said, citing the huge discounts and product promos available during the entire event.

“It is also during the Travel Madness that both the sellers and buyers come to learn about the prospects and the future of the industry straight from the government and business leaders,” Alberto said, noting the event’s role in promoting a vibrant tourism through direct person-to-person interaction.

“In a way, the Travel Madness is becoming an indicator of the state of the domestic and international tourism as can be gauged from the event’s huge and still fast-growing clientele and unprecedented public patronage,” said Raymond Tee, vice president of Horizon Travel, one of the leading members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a global trade association representing some 240 airlines, or 84 percent of the world’s total air traffic.

Among the Travel Madness’ regular participants are IATA members and leading travel agencies, including the industry’s global service providers, national tourism organizations and destinations, hotels and resorts, cruise ships, destination management companies, food conglomerates, and other support services such as universal banks and financial institutions, and even property development firms, all offering “out-of-this-world and jaw-dropping deals” and making the event a complete one-stop shop.

The Travel Madness Expo is also known for being the “craziest and most innovative sale” ever to hit the Philippine market with rock-bottom prices, fun-filled raffle draws and exhilarating surprises, and the so-called “Extreme Madness Hour,” featuring unheard-of travel deals popping out at certain times of the hour.

The Travel Madness Expo is slated on July 4-6 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City. For more information, contact Travel Innovators at 02 311-7500, 02 810-4520 or 02 313-7276, or e-mail at travelmadnessexpo@gmail.com.