MANILA – The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) will conduct the 19th Philippine Travel Exchange (PHITEX) next week by having activities online and an actual travel experience for local participants in the island of Panglao in Bohol.
In a virtual press conference Wednesday, TPB chief operating officer Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones said this year’s PHITEX will be a pre-selling activity as traveling is still limited due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
PHITEX is an annual event of TPB that matches international buyers with Department of Tourism (DOT)-accredited tourism suppliers.
The virtual edition will be held from Sept. 22 to 24 and the ‘travel in the new normal’ in Panglao Island will be from Sept. 25 to 27.
“We expect them (pre-selling) to be realized by next year,” Velasco-Allones said.
She said that before Covid-19 hit the country, the TPB eyed this year’s PHITEX to generate PHP3-billion sales.
“We are trying to be realistic and open to the possibilities that await us given the reality of this pandemic. But we are confident that the products of our sellers would be good enough to regenerate the deals that we expect to get from the different B2B (business-to-business) meetings,” she added.
The TPB official said 350 delegates are expected to participate in this year’s PHITEX but only about 100 participants, particularly local sellers, will have first-hand experience of travel in the new normal in Panglao Island.
Some 124 confirmed foreign buyers will also join the virtual edition of PHITEX. These buyers are from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
Velasco-Allones said the TPB is happy to see non-traditional markets for Philippine tourism as this can translate to new opportunities in the future.
“We are confident that as we reach out to tourism market stakeholders from all over the world with the latest Philippine tourism offerings, we will be able to gradually reopen our country for visitors and spur the recovery of the industry,” she said. (PNA)
