Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Espina: Cebu's key players unite for tourism congress 2008 By Mila C. Espina in my diary
SOME 60 key layers from the business sector, academe, airline, hotel and resorts, restaurants, travel and tour agencies, government and other-tourism based industries attended the first meeting of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI)Cebu Business Month (CBM) Committee 2008 with the media. It was to discuss the forthcoming Tourism Congress and its allied activities slated on June 25-26 at the Plenary Hall, Cebu International Convention Center. The event was hosted by the Cebu City Marriot Hotel through GM Roy Abraham, in tandem with Speechcom International for the management and documentation of the event.
The central theme of the Cebu Business Month 2008 is “Converge in Cebu” and will again tap the participation of three sectors, namely, tourism, information and communication technology and small and medium enterprises.
The Tourism Team will focus on the capability building in human resources toward excellence in service. Thus, the slogan, Excel, Cebu!
The Tourism Congress opens on June 25 with the usual opening ceremonies followed by panel discussions on attitudinal formation and mind-setting in managerial skills; an intensive discussion on outsourcing competencies, specifically in acquiring
Basic English proficiency; developing necessary expertise in handling emerging tourism industries like medical tourism, wellness and spa; event management; shopping tourism, to include packaging products and souvenirs; film and entertainment and even real estate whose trendsetting includes integrating landmarks and architectural ambiance. The workshops end June 26, in the afternoon.
The Philippine International Tourism Fair and Travex (PITFT) will be interspersed with the CBM tourism events in close coordination with Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas) and Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp. (PCVC). It opens at 10 a.m., on June 26, where the participants of the Tourism Congress and PITF converge. After this, the PITF will have its own mini-seminars and product matching; while the participants of the Tourism Congress will continue the afternoon sessions. The PITF and the CBM tourism delegates will have time to interact further during lunch and exhibits viewing as well as in some common events. The PITF ends June 28.
The other highlights are: The Search for the Young Ambassador/Ambassadress of Business and Industry, to be coordinated by Commission on Higher Education (Ched) 7 and the League of Tourism Students and Educators, June 25 at 5 p.m. The Dine, Cebu, in tandem with Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC). The weekend shows at the malls with SM City, Ayala Center, E-Mall, Metro Gaisano And Robinsons. The Suroy Suroy Sugbu will be handled by the Province of Cebu in partnership with the tour/travel agencies on June 6-8. The Media Forum will be at 4 p.m. on June 26, and will feature our media and consular corps to discuss common tourism issues and concerns
Registration is only P500 for early birds and group discounts; the form—which is available at Speechcom at Rivergate, Gen. Maxilom, or at the CCCI Office, or in your e-mail—contains all necessary instructions. Seminar fee includes lunch, snacks, kits and the chance to win door prizes. You may also call 253-3656 or, 515-7088; or CCCI at 232 7900 (Karen) for more data.
PERLAS AWARDS ON MARCH 12
All roads lead to the SM Cinema I For The Perlas Awards On Valuable Filipinos and Institutions at 5 p.m., Mar. 12. Free admission for all who wish to draw inspiration from our role models and achievers. Please be there.
GOODBYE, TIM WRIGHT
It is not easy to say goodbye to one of our tourism stakeholders and friends who always had the heart to extend support to worthy projects. Yes, Tim Wright, the general manager of Shangri-La Cebu for two (or more?) years, will soon be leaving Cebu to take hold of a new assignment in Shangri-La-Bangkok.
Cebu will surely miss him. We took note of his active involvement in Amcham Cebu and in The Lapu-Lapu Tourism Council, where he made a mark in helping many tourism events and community projects. His stars shone in the manner he benchmarked Shangri-La’s role in the Asean Summit and in all the CBM events. Thank you, Tim, for the friendship and beautiful memories you spent with your media friends.
AMAZING THAILAND, UNIQUELY SINGAPORE
Cebu is a good place for travel marketing. We have a lot of travel bugs who go on trade missions, shopping spree, educational tours, leisure trips and fam-media tours to nearby Asian countries as well as European and US destinations. Cebuanos spend time and good money for vacation and family trips and are guided by adequate updates on tour packages.
Well, branding is the name of the game. Easily, we can tell “Amazing Thailand,” or “Uniquely Singapore,” is very catchy. Cebu was visited recently by the pacesetters of the Tourism Authority Of Thailand led by Dave de Jesus, marketing, representative in the Philippines; Porntip Makornpan, director; Malu Oclarence-Duenas, DSM, Thai Airways; Armi Mayoralgo, manager-passenger operations, Thai Airways; Panyawat Peter Tongprasert, sales director; Siam Niramit and Nuschanart Artyakhacchorn, assistant sales manager, Siam City Hotel.
Thailand is promoting its “Seven Wonders”; its Thain-ness, which showcases the wealth of authentic Thai tradition; its food and fashion; beauty, spa and wellness; arts and culture; shopping; festivals; natural wonders of the sea, forest, parks and blooms. Amazing indeed! We were shown some colorful footages of the famous Siam Niramit and its splendor of cultural shows and other must-see programs and services. I was there several times and was awed by the fabulous historical and legendary musicales in colorful props and costumes. The sales and marketing team of Singapore Airlines/Silkair was in town to entice us to try the new destinations added to the usual routes.
Rita Dy, Clinton Tan, GM, Philippines, Guam and US; Betty Cobonpue, chairperson, Silkair; and the ever gracious Kum Hoong Kong, GM in Cebu, readily interacted with the media, and showed how comfortable the new business class, almost like suites, as well as the spacious economy seating arrangement of the multi-awarded Singapore Airlines (recently named the best business class) a passenger could ever dream of. We told them Singapore has one of the best check-in and check-out airport services and its aces include good English-speaking people.
