MANILA, Philippines - Former undersecretary of the Department of Tourism Cynthia Carrion, will join the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso in a panel of the world’s distinguished wellness advocates at the Global Spa & Wellness Summit (GSWS) in New Delhi, India. The Dalai Lama was winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize and the first Nobel Laureate who was also declared the most popular world leader in the US and six European nations by the 2013 Harris Interactive poll.
The world’s most sought after international gathering of wellness leaders, decision-makers and visionaries from a variety of arenas, the summit intends to positively impact and shape the future of the global spa and wellness industries.
The summit is highly-priced where delegates are by invitation only, and are further screened to include only those with remarkable contributions to the wellness industry, and those with senior executive titles such as CEO, president, chairman, divisional SVP, and owner.
World-renowned practitioners and business executives in the wellness industry usually book for seats a few months in advance. Not all those who desire to take part can have a seat in the summit, as some special considerations of the delegates’ business profile are taken into account in the screening of delegates such as the company size, yearly sales, number of employees, and length of time in business.
Carrion was instrumental in the introduction, growth and the recent phenomenal popularity of wellness and medical tourism in the Philippines. She is the sole representative of the Southeast Asian (SEA) region for the summit panel, which is a very good opportunity to promote the Philippines’ wellness tourism programs and directions.
In 2004, the DOT worked out the passage of Executive Order 372 which is a public-private partnership task force to provide an enabling environment for the competitiveness of the health and wellness industry to serve the global market. Health and wellness tourism surged by 13.2 percent from 2003 to 2005, one year after the issuance of E.O 372 that created the public-private sector partnership to formulate a development strategy for the industry.
Carrion’s representation to this summit which is modeled in part after the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland will enable the positioning of the country as the health and wellness destination in Asia.
The Philippines will be noted for its comparative edge in health and wellness tourism due to the abundance of natural resources, unique Filipino healing practices, fluency in the English language and competitive cost. This is not to mention the warmth, care and hospitality of the people.