MANILA, Philippines - Almost a thousand members of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) from all over the globe will celebrate the World Tourism Day on Sept. 27, not in Spain as designated for 2012 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, but in Manila.
They will celebrate the occasion from 5 to 6 p.m. at the PATA Travel Mart (PTM) network lounge at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. The PTM network lounge social hour will be hosted by Ginebra San Miguel and Marco Polo Hotels.
The celebration will cap the day’s PTM activities and executive meetings, which include a courtesy call by the PATA executive board on President Aquino in Malacañang in the morning, PATA Youth Forum at the Lyceum of the Philippines University from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and a full day of business-to-business transactions between buyers and sellers of package tours and travel products and services from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Following the celebration is a dinner reception hosted by the PATA Philippine Chapter for buyers and media, and a late-night PTM function co-hosted by TTG Asia Media with Hyatt Hotel and Casino from 9:30 p.m. to 12 midnight.
The PTM runs from Sept. 25 to 28 at the SMX Convention Center, with at least 810 executives of 582 companies from 58 countries, confirming their participation.
“That means the world’s continents will do business in the Philippines during the PTM, which effectively covers the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa),” DOT Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions and Philippine Host Organizing Committee chairman Daniel Corpuz had earlier said.
“Thus, PTM will mark the resurgence of the Philippines as an international MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) destination with its new and improved capacity to host association conferences and corporate meetings,” Corpuz added, citing the Sept. 28-30 PATA executive board and board of directors’ meetings at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel as a market model.
Supporting the PTM are local sponsors Philippine Airlines, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Primer Group of Companies, SM Hotels and Conventions Corp., Hertz Philippines, Marco Polo Hotels, Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority, Globe Telecom Inc., Duty Free Philippines, Victory Liner, Nurture Tropical Spa, Resorts World Manila, and the Pasay City government.
For more information on the PTM, contact the PHOC Secretariat at 02-525-6110, e-mail at cit@dotpcvc.gov.ph or visit www.pata.org.