DAVAO CITY (PIA) - The coming Mindanao Tourism Expo will highlight regional tourism opportunities in Mindanao.

“The expo will have four main proponents mainly the expo itself, the B2b or the Business-to-Business meeting and then Business-to-Customer meeting then we have the gala show,” says Joyce Ramirez of the Department of Tourism-XI, the organizers of the MTE.

The MTE will be held on January 27-29 at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang, Davao City. The expo will have 69 booths with 34 exhibitors. It is touted as the largest tourism expo to be held this year in Mindanao.

“We are a full-house already,” Ramirez said of the exhibits which will have 18 exhibitors coming from the different Department of Tourism regional offices and 16 exhibits coming from several tourism establishments like hotels and resorts.

The MTE will promote tourism packages around Mindanao that will include culinary and cultural tourism experiences.

 “The MTE is in support of the reopening of tourism in Davao and Mindanao,” Ramirez said.

DOT-XI Regional Director Tanya R. Tan said the MTE 2023 is “our way of sustaining this momentum and in keeping with our strategic direction to restart tourism by supporting our stakeholders and promoting Mindanao regions as safe and fun destinations," 

Davao Region registered a total of 1,048,245 arrivals in the first semester of 2022, 73.62% higher than that of 2021, a very good sign that tourism is truly bouncing back. (PIA/RG Alama)