By Ronnel Domingo
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–Large-scale tourist accommodation projects in the Visayas region are helping make it the tourism corridor that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo described in her State of the Nation Address in 2005.
According to the Department of Tourism, these projects include the $500-million Chi Spa Village at the Shangri-La Mactan in Cebu; $30-millon expansion of a resort in Palawan and the newly opened Iloilo International Airport.
Existing facilities and attractions, however, are already enough to position the central islands as a tourism super region through the Philippine Travel Exchange 2007 trade fair slated this week in Cebu.
Phitex 2007 project manager Tess Mauricio said in a statement that the event, which would be held at the Cebu International Convention Center on Sept. 5-6, was expected to host 120 of the world’s biggest foreign buyers of travel packages.
At the same time, 87 local seller companies would take part in Phitex 2007, including 54 hotels and resorts, three airlines, 28 tour operators and two convention facilities.
“The CICC itself and other new tourism infrastructure and facilities in the region are expected to gain much of the international attention,” Mauricio said.
“Central Philippines makes a good representation of the country’s brand image as a multidimensional tropical paradise of 7,107 islands since the region itself is more characterized by island clusters than the mainlands of Luzon and Mindanao,” she added.
Mauricio said this year’s Phitex — the 7th in a series of yearly gatherings of foreign and local industry players — features presentations and one-on-one business meetings between buyers and sellers, and pre- and post-event tours for the visitors who will market the Philippines in their respective countries.
In a separate statement, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said European buyers accounted for 26 of some 120 groups that have confirmed to join Phitex 2007.
“These consist of seven each from France and Germany, five from the Czech Republic, one each from the United Kingdom and Poland, three from Slovakia, and two from Hungary,” Durano said.
He said other foreign delegations include 15 from Korea and China, 10 from Hong Kong, nine from Singapore, 10 from Japan, four from North America and India and three from Australia.
