DOT gears up tourism industry for PATA Travel Mart in Manila

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Tourism (DOT) is gearing up all sectors of the industry for the country’s hosting of the international travel mart of the 2,000-member Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) this year.

DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. has instructed the Philippine Host Organizing Committee (PHOC) to ensure maximum local industry participation in the PTM so as optimize its benefits to Philippine tourism.

Jimenez said, “We have to take advantage of the vast global exposure that Philippine tourism will gain from this international event (PTM) through utmost local industry participation.”

PATA is extending to Philippine sellers a 20-percent discount on the cost of exhibit space. And while the registration for the PTM ends on June 30, local sellers may still avail themselves of the discount until July 10.

The PTM, according to Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz, can yield at least $5.2 million or P223.6 million in tourism receipts from a conservative estimate of 1,200 foreign delegates spending a daily average of $691 each for five days at an exchange rate of P43 to a dollar.

“That amount does not include the actual business to be generated during the PTM by the participating Philippine travel and tourism entities such as hotels, tour operators, airlines, cruise ships, resorts, restaurants, shopping malls, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, and various service providers and venues for MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions/events), among many others,” Corpuz said.

The country’s hosting of PTM 2012 also guarantees a yearlong worldwide publicity for the Philippines through PATA’s traditional and online media channels and the international press that will cover the event.        

The PTM 2012 will also enable the country to showcase its 4,681 new luxury hotel rooms and many other high-end amenities constituting some $5 billion worth of fresh investments from foreign and local businesses.

Manila’s hosting of the event on Sept. 25-28 at the SMX Convention Center has gained the full support of PATA’s leadership during last year’s PTM held in New Delhi.

Newly appointed PATA chief executive officer Martin Craigs pledged to help out vigorously in bringing the organization’s worldwide membership to Manila for the PTM 2012 and support the Philippines’ effort to capture its target tourism markets across the globe.

As early as September last year, Manila’s hosting of PTM 2012 has been posted on the PATA website and being viewed by its members and their immense clientele in 41 countries around the world.

This would only be the second time for the country to host the event since 1978, when the very first PTM was held in Manila. Since then, the Philippines has hosted other huge and prestigious PATA events such as its 29th Annual Conference and Workshop in 1980, Midyear Board of Directors Meeting in 1987 and Annual Meeting in 1989, 1995 and 2002, Adventure Travel and Eco-Tourism Conference and Mart in 1993, and the 47th Annual Conference and World Chapters Congress in 1998.

Founded in 1951, the PATA is the recognized authority on Pacific Asia travel and tourism, providing leadership and advocacy to the collective efforts of nearly 100 government, state and city tourism bodies, more than 55 airlines and cruise lines, and hundreds of travel industry companies.

For more information on the PTM, call the PHOC Secretariat at 02-525-6110, e-mail at cit@dotpcvc.gov.ph or visit www.pata.org.