DAVAO CITY- The first Mindanao Tourism Expo opened on Friday (Jan. 27) at SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang Premiere.
The opening was attended by Department of Tourism officials led by Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco.
The Secretary said the expo is part of DOT’s efforts to reopen Mindanao to tourism which she said was one of the first plans she laid out to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shortly after her appointment as tourism chief.
“ Since then, the efforts have been not only to concentrate on what the Department of Tourism has been doing in the past few years which it has done well… but also to expand the reach of the traditional mandate of the Department to look into the necessary pillars of true tourism development to take a long hard and honest look at what needs to change, what needs to be improved, to ensure that when we get back post-pandemic, from everything that has ravaged through our beloved country, from all the losses suffered by the tourism industry that we come back stronger than ever before, ” Sec. Frasco said.
She said the directive of President Marcos is not just to continue to develop and promote the key destinations but also to allow the benefits of tourism to reach as far as possible countrywide.
“Aron mabati sa atong igsoon na Filipino ang tinood ug tinuay na benepisyo sa paglambo sa turismo (So that our Filipino brothers will feel the true benefits of the tourism development),” the Secretary said in her speech.
The expo which will run until January 29, has 200 participants with 34 exhibitors of which 18 exhibitors are the different DOT regional offices across the country and 16 private sector tourism establishments.
The expo will have four main proponents mainly the expo itself, the B2B or the Business-to-Business meetings, Business-to-Customer meetings and the gala show to culminate the event.
The expo is a project realized by the partnership with the Davao Visitors Destination Hub, Inc, DOT Mindanao Regional Offices, DOT - Office of Product and Market Development, DOT - Office of the Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation Coordination and Resource Generation.
Impact to Davao City Tourism
Davao City Tourism Operations Office OIC Jennifer Romero said the reopening of Mindanao’s tourism will have a positive impact to Davao City as it is the gateway and the center of the region.
“Dako kaayo sya na impact sa Davao City (this will have a big impact to Davao City) because this is the center of Davao Region and the melting pot of Mindanao the expo is a testament that Mindanao is ready, Davao City is ready,” Romero said.
Tour agency owner and private sector Davao Tourism Association sectoral vice-president for Travel and Tours said the expo will give them the chance to open the different destinations in the region.
“We will be able to promote our place not only to the Philippine market but also to the world, to have an event such as this, it is a good opportunity to showcase the different cities and provinces around Mindanao,” Montano said. (PIA/RG Alama)
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