A TOTAL of 116 participants both for the Philippine Building and Construction Expo (Philbex) and the Travel and Leisure Expo (Tlex) showcased their products and services at the opening of the two co-located expos Thursday, May 11, at the SMX Convention Center, SM Lanang.
For Tlex 2017, around 34 booths were occupied by different hotels, resorts, airlines, banks and tourism associations among others, each of them presenting promos and discounts for summer and even for Mother’s Day next week.
Also, there were around 80 booths for Philbex participants showcasing new construction materials and even architects perspective of their real-estate vertical developments inside and outside the city. There are also booths intended for the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP), Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (Pice), and Philippine Institute of Interior Designers (PIID) among others.
In a separate press conference, Worldbex marketing director Jun Richmond Ang said this is the first time that they are putting side by side the construction and design and travel and leisure in one convention and expo. He said they are hoping for the success of this four-day event which will last until Sunday, May 14.
Expo as a tourism boost
According to City Tourism Operations Office Head Generose Tecson, expos like this help promote Davao City and the products and services it can offer, not only for tourism purposes but also for business delegation seminars.
“Events like this establish us as meetings, incentives, conferencing, and exhibitions (Mice) destination. That’s what we are happy about and that’s also what we want to do. Our private sectors, especially the Mice program, are really moving to conduct more conventions and exhibits in the city,” Tecson said.
With four new flight destinations of AirAsia from Davao direct to other places in the Philippines, Tecson said their office saw the need for more expos like this to bring in more visitors from these places to Davao, and not just Dabawenyos travelling outside the city.
“Davao has to be able to help that the airline companies will have in-bound visitors from these destinations. That’s why we, at CTOO, propose more roadshows outside Metro Manila to make them aware of what we have here especially that Kadayawan is nearing,” she said.
Construction industry in the city
With exactly 82 booths displaying for Philbex, Pice Davao Chapter Board of Director engineer Eddie Fuentes said it is helpful because visiting engineers will definitely find some construction materials to be used for their projects.
“In this expo, there are a lot of materials showcased related to construction such as tarpaulin making, metal and steel materials, and other construction equipment. There are several new materials here that engineers might take interest in and can use in their projects,” said Fuentes.
He also added with the improvement of the economy of Davao City, construction and infrastructure industry is booming.
“Wherever you look around in Davao City, there are a lot of constructions. Construction industry in the city is doing very well especially with real estate developments such as condominiums and housing. For the government, there are a lot of road expansions and bridges constructions. That’s not even including the coastal areas. That’s also a very big potential construction project,” he said.
Currently, the city has around 700 Civil Engineers who are active members of Pice, 200 of these are contractors.