Tourism industry gears up for Travel Madness Expo

MANILA, Philippines - Inspired by the tremendous success of the Travel Madness Expo 2012 that recently brought in huge business from the vast tourism consumer market, industry players from various sectors are now looking forward and gearing up for next year’s edition of the event.

“Such industry sentiment is being triggered by the ongoing Christmas sale that fills up malls with shoppers in a buying frenzy, reminiscent of the same atmosphere at the SMX Convention Center during the three-day run of the Travel Madness Expo last July,” said Pat Alberto, vice president of event organizer Travel Innovators Inc.

“This time, however, it’s the market driving the travel industry for more discounted tour packages as holiday gifts and incentives, and as proven possible by Travel Madness just recently. So now they (industry players) are already booking for booth space in next year’s July 12-14 Travel Madness even this early,” Alberto said.

Describing the Travel Madness Expo as the only industry event of its kind, Alberto said it attracted tens of thousands of visitors in just three days of bargain sale of airline tickets, tour packages and many other related products and services.

“In fact, Travel Madness 2012 drew at least 40,000 visitors and guests, enabling a participating international credit card company to generate P20 million worth of business during the event’s three-day run. This amount did not include the number of new credit card holder signups,” Alberto said.

“Thus, the event was able to attain its goal of perking up the industry’s business during the lean season through advance orders and bookings at huge volumes,” Alberto added, also attributing the feat to the strong and long-standing relations of its organizers with all the sectors of the industry, both national and international.

The organizer, Travel Innovators, constitutes a key sector of IATA agents supported by global service providers and all the major foreign and domestic airlines that ply international routes.

These airline companies enjoyed brisk sales at Travel Madness 2012. So did the global service providers, travel and tourism destinations and the rest of the exhibitors, including embassies and consulates, all registering a phenomenal success during the event.

“For 2013, we are determined to make Travel Madness Expo even bigger and better, with three of the four exhibition halls of the SMX providing the space for the huge number of industry players and consumers who have been left out in the previous event,” Alberto said.