Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Covington: The week that was
By Gary Covington
Looking in
APOLOGIES first. In the final paragraph of last week's column, thanks to some sloppy writing on my part, I gave the impression that ICAB--the Internet Cafe Accreditation Board--was responsible for fixing the prices of basic commodities like rice and fuel and power. Nonsense of course--my apologies to ICAB.
I've also taken some stick this last week for speculating that the potted plants, put out to beautify the city during the you-know-what forum, make a tempting target for green fingered thieves. Impossible, snorted the critics, those great earthenware pots full to the brim with soil must weigh a ton. Who's going to steal them?
Well...the European press the other week reported that a bronze sculpture by the late great artist Henry Moore had been stolen from its display plinth in some ornamental gardens. So what I hear you cry. The sculpture weighs two tons that's what. Potted plants laid out on a highway's central divide? Piece of cake my son. Piece of cake.
Dominating the press last week was this week's now in progress Asean Tourist Forum and its attendant Travel Exchange or Travex. Travex is a trade fair for those in the tourist business; an opportunity for companies and concerns to set out their wares, size up the opposition and, with any luck, fill up their order books.
I had assumed--silly me--which Davao as host city (and contributing millions of pesos to ensure the ATF's success) would benefit from a few complimentary stalls at Travex but no; cash up front is the name of the game here. Only three Davao-based concerns had the means to stump up the required admission fee.
The price of exhibiting at Travex--for the booth (3 meters by 2, 10 feet by 6 in old money), admission of delegates and co-delegates, ID badges, CR passes and so on--is covered by a one-off registration fee, a fee not pinned down in the press and so I went a-googling.
The outfit organizing Travex (and pocketing the registration fees), appointed by the Philippine Department of Tourism, is TTG Asia Media Pty Ltd., a Singapore-based company, which makes its money from the folks who make their money from tourists. They are, according to their website, the leading organizer of travel and tourist events in the Asia-Pacific region.
To members of the forum the charge for a booth at Travex is US $1590. For a delegate $490 and a co-delegate $360. For non-members the fees are hiked; $1910 for a booth, $600 for a delegate and $490 for a co-delegate. Oh, and if you lose your ID badge there's a surcharge of $15.
There are, reportedly, 458 booths available at Travex. Imagine that half are let to members and half to non-members and that a crew of delegate and co-delegate mans all booths. Total fees? Let's see; 458 divided by 2, multiplied by....
I'll save you the math. It comes to $1,517,760. Just over one and a half million dollars and that's just the registration fees for exhibitors, never mind the turnstile charge for buyers. Nice work if you can get it.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (January 17, 2006 issue)
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