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Saturday, November 12, 2005
Preparations up for Asean tourism gab
By Barbara Carla R. Quiero
DAVAO CITY -- Officials here are busy preparing for the upcoming Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) slated to be held on January 13-21 next year in the city.
Tourism Undersecretary Oscar Palabyab, during the media briefing at Marco Polo Hotel on Friday, said there is a need to project a better image of the city to attract more participants to the tourism forum.
"We have met with the national agencies down to the regional level right after Davao City was declared the venue for ATF," assured Palabyab.
At least 3,000 delegates from Asean-member countries, US, and Europe are expected to participate in the forum.
Susan J. del Mundo, Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC) head for travel and trade and likewise the ATF secretariat, said the over-all challenge for everyone is to stage a successful tourism forum.
Del Mundo said the host city is estimated to benefit from the spending pattern of expected delegates by about $90,000 or P499 million.
"The ATF will also generate jobs, open income opportunities, eliminate poverty, and bring additional revenues like foreign exchange and dollar receipts," del Mundo said.
She said ATF would strengthen partnerships and linkages among Asean countries and favor image building to negate bad publicity.
"We are ready for the event and preparations are tough," added del Mundo.
She said the buyers attending the travel expo or Travex, one of the highlights of the ATF, are pre-selected because organizers want to be sure that those participating are selling the Asean region and the Philippines.
Del Mundo said for Travex, which would be held at the NCCC Mall convention center, about 458 booths for the sellers and 371 for the buyers are being prepared.
Of those that confirmed participation, according to del Mundo, Europe has the most number of participants with 458.
She said Europe has great interest in the Philippines, including Davao Region.
"Despite the difficulty of getting travel insurance because of the travel advisory, they still are coming," said del Mundo.
Art Boncato of the Davao Host Council said they have created 17 committees tasked with the different aspects of the preparation.
"We have pulled also the support of many companies in the city for us to meet with the deadline," Boncato said.
The Davao Host Council, chaired by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, has set up a housing bureau to handle hotel bookings for ATF participants.
There are 14 areas designated as official venues for the forum and over 1,600 hotel rooms were already blocked for ATF delegates.
The security committee, which is also under the immediate supervision of Duterte, has allotted P7 million for security arrangements before, during, and after the ATF.
The DOT has already conducted training sessions to ensure the highest possible standard of service in frontline operations and tour guiding.
ATF is a cooperative regional effort to promote the Southeast Asian region as one tourist destination.
It involves all the tourism industry sector of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) 10-member nations, namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed a memorandum directing Secretary of Tourism Ace Durano to organize and create a host committee and an inter-agency task force to prepare and implement the activities and programs for the coming ATF that was originally scheduled in 2007.
This year's ATF theme is "Celebrating the many faces of Asean." (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(November 12, 2005 issue)
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