2012 August: 23rd Philippine Travel Mart

One after the other, three weeks ago I went to Travel Madness Expo.  Yesterday, I was in 

23rd Philippine Travel Mart.  Don’t expect anything international, because this exposition is exclusive for the Philippines! (http://philtoa.org/phil-travel.php) 

“It’s more fun in the Philippines” (http://www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/), the campaign ad of the Department of Tourism is all over the exhibit hall.  Go now to SMX Convention Center and visit this 3 day sale of Philippine tour packages (August 10-12, 2012 10am-8pm).

If you don’t want to line-up on the airline booths and you own a credit card, then just visit their website.  Most of the fares offered on the expo are just the same as what they have online. 

Honestly I’m not fond of buying packages in the expo.  I prefer to do my own research, airline hunting, reading hotel reviews, gathering itineraries from forums and the like…  But I love visiting such events because there I can buy cheaper magazines and get maps and detailed information about the place I may visit soon.

50php for back issues

Proud to be from Bohol!  The booth shows how religious the place is and at the same time they were able to offer the beach part of the island. 

I’m giving the Southern Tagalog Region with the best booth award.  It’s so nice that they were able to include catchy huge figures from Higantes Festival in Angono, Rizal.  There are few men with costumes and mask from Moriones Festival of Marinduque.  There are also craftsmen in action showing how they do those small souvenirs from their area.  The attendants are open for questions, not annoying to visitors and are very generous in giving away printed information about the region. 

Department of Agriculture

Attending these expos will make you proud and say that we, Philippines, have our own right and can really be confident to show what we got in our tourism industry.  Just in time to celebrate our own pavilion’s award in the World Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea.  The Philippine Pavilion (http://7107.co.kr/philexpo2012/default.aspx), which has the theme of “Islands of Diversity / Sea of Connectivity”, won as the Best Exhibit in Small Pavilion category given by the Exhibitor Magazine.  Read the rest of the winners in http://www.exhibitoronline.com/topics/expo2012/award-winners.asp.

Congratulations to the Department of Tourism, Philippine Committee and people behind U26 Design Studio. 

Come and visit for you to see the beauty of the Philippines, and the Filipinos at their finest.  

tara na, biyahe tayo, nang ating makita,

ang ganda ng Pilipinas, ang galing ng Pilipino!