China travel agents vow support for RP tourism

MANILA, Philippines - Various travel agents from China have committed to promote Philippine tourism products and destinations to their countrymen upon returning home from a trip to Palawan.

Kelly Jiao from Shanghai, who led the Chinese delegation to the 10th Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex) held recently at the Manila Hotel, said they were so impressed by the warmth and hospitality of Filipinos that they immediately enjoyed their stay right in the first two days of their visit.

“At first, our group was a bit worried and wary. But after two days, everyone was enjoying her stay and didn’t worry at all as we met with our local counterparts for the Phitex 2010 business meetings,” Jiao said.

Similarly, Shanghai Synwalk International Travel Service general manager Bob Jia said in a TV interview that his company would continue pushing the Philippines to the Chinese market.

Jia described the Philippines as a country of beautiful scenery and wonderful people that the world should see and appreciate.

Upon arriving in Manila last Aug. 31, the Chinese visitors and the rest of the foreign delegation had a welcome dinner at the H2O Hotel, a water, light and laser show at the Ocean Park, and a tour of the Oceanarium, all comprising a tourism complex at the Rizal Park near Manila Bay.

The following day, the Chinese delegates had a city tour that culminated in a dinner show at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila, where they were treated to a night of Filipino music and world-class entertainment.

After the dinner show, the Chinese delegates huddled around Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim for a souvenir photo, some of them flashing the “peace” sign to signify the close ties between China and the Philippines.

The next day brought all of the 96 foreign travel agents to the Manila Hotel for a full day of pre-scheduled one-on-one business sessions with local sellers of various tourism products.

Lim formally opened the business meetings with a short message that exuded his confidence in hitting the government’s 3.3-million target foreign visitor arrivals for full-year 2010.

“I am truly grateful that, despite the challenges we faced the past week and a half, we were still able to attract 96 foreign delegates from around the world and 191 Filipino sellers representing 112 companies. I believe this is a clear testament of your confidence in Philippine tourism,” Lim said.

Lim also told the participants that for the first five months of the year, foreign visitor arrivals had already reached almost 1.5 million or an 11.2 percent increase over the same period last year.

“If we are able to sustain this growth rate through your unwavering commitment to support our promotions efforts, we may hit our target of 3.3 million arrivals by yearend,” Lim stressed before declaring the start of Phitex 2010’s Travel Exchange comprising the business meetings between the foreign buyers and local sellers.

Such business activities were capped with a farewell dinner and party at The Gallery at Greenbelt 5 in Makati City, where they got acquainted with each other before parting ways for their respective post-event tours to the different tourism destinations across the archipelago up to Sept. 7.

While the Chinese delegation was bound for Palawan, the others were headed for Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, Bicol, Clark, Subic and the Ilocos region.