DOT, Davao City launch Visit Davao Fun Sale

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Tourism (DOT) and the city government of Davao have launched the Visit Davao Fun Sale at the SMX Convention Center Mall of Asia recently, with all sectors throwing their full support for this unique destination-focused megasale.

The launch was led by DOT Assistant Secretary for Mindanao Art Boncato and Davao City tourism operations officer Lisette Marques in a grand Visit Davao Fun Sale exhibit showcasing the unique features of the country’s biggest city from highlands to islands that are “plain to sea.”

This megasale offering huge discounts for Davao tour packages is an offshoot of a previous event focusing merely on shopping as a tourism attraction that accounts for 22 percent of a visitor’s tourism spend, according to Boncato and Marques.

“So we are now eyeing all the activities that tourists spend for because Davao simply has them all, and more,” Boncato stressed, referring to “the city’s 12 shopping malls and numerous facilities for sports, entertainment, leisure and MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conventions, events/exhibitions),” including cultural and natural attractions as iconized by its royalties --  durian the king of fruits, waling-waling the queen of flowers, Philippine eagle the king of birds, giant clam the queen of the sea, pomelo the top take-home pick, Mount Apo the highest peak, and the seafoods and tuna trademark dishes as the top dining favor-eats.

With Boncato and Marques at the launch were Davao City Councilor Al Ryan Alejandre who heads the City Council’s tourism committee, and the leaders of the Davao Association of Tour Operators (DATO), Davao Travel Agencies Association (DTAA), National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS), and their umbrella organization Davao Tourism Association (DATA).

DATO president Pearly Luy Louh described the Visit Davao Fun Sale as “the complete inbound tours offering” based on its scope of coverage and industry participation.

The Visit Davao Fun Sale, according to DTAA president Arnold King, is also being promoted by the association members’ outbound clients to their friends and relatives abroad.

NAITAS vice president Raissa Wynne Teo attributed the attractiveness of the “Sale” to its “lowest end-to-end travel rates ever” covering all city, countryside and island tours. 

DATA president Sally San Jose said that such a campaign of this magnitude was made possible through a strong partnership among the local government, DOT, tourism destinations, resorts, hotels, restaurants, malls, transport groups, airlines, and all the product and service providers in the city’s entire supply chain.”

Boncato cited the Visit Davao Fun Sale as a tourism megasale of unprecedented proportions, involving all sectors in a vigorous selling frenzy to the traveling public seeking their share of the city’s beauty and blessings through the most affordable means via advance booking for the rest of the year and beyond.

“The megasale, which will run from April 3 to May 15 next year, will be Davao’s contribution to the Visit Philippines Year 2015 and can help the city break its 2013 double-digit record of 15.38-percent hike in domestic and foreign visitor volume to 1.5 million from 1.3 million in 2012,” Boncato pointed out.

“For other details on the Visit Davao Fun Sale, interested parties may contact the DOT (email: [email protected]; tel. 082-2210070  or  082-2216955) and look for Eden David or Vanezza Serrano,” Boncato added.