More foreign buyers joining travel trade event

MANILA, Philippines — Majority of buyers participating in this year’s Philippine Travel Exchange (PHITEX) are from opportunity markets abroad

In a virtual press conference, Tourism Promotions Board chief operating officer Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones said a total of 124 foreign buyers are set to participate in the travel trade event on Sept. 22 to 24.

“She said 62 percent of the countries participating among our buyers are actually opportunity markets,” she said.

The confirmed buyers come from Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland, among others.

There are also buyers from the country’s top source markets such as Korea, China, US, Japan and Australia.

This year’s buyers will participate in the Travel Exchange (TRAVEX) portion of the event, which offers virtual business-to-business (B2B) sessions with Philippine tourism suppliers accredited by the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Allones said there are currently 161 confirmed sellers, 92 of whom are hotels or resorts, while 63 are tour operators. There are also sellers from the airlines industry, convention centers and incentive tour groups.

The TPB official said the agency was targeting sales from PHITEX to reach P3 billion before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are trying to be realistic and open to the possibility that awaits us with the reality of this pandemic. But of course we are confident that the products of sellers would be good enough to generate deals that we expect to get from the different B2B meetings,”Allones said.

This year’s PHITEX will be a hybrid event as the host province of Bohol is set to accommodate about 100 of the local participants.

Allones said the TPB is targeting to have post event tours for qualified foreign buyers by the first quarter of 2021.

Apart from the TRAVEX, other key features of the hybrid PHITEX include webinars, interviews, roundtable discussions, Philippines 360/games, videos on demand and virtual tours.

Now on its 19th year, the PHITEX is the largest government-organized travel trade event in the Philippines.