Almost a thousand members of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) from all over the globe will celebrate the World Tourism Day on September 27, not in Spain as designated for 2012 by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, but in Manila, writes the Philippine Department of Tourism.
MANILA- PATA Delegates will celebrate the occasion from 5:00 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the PATA Travel Mart (PTM) network lounge, SMX Convention Center, Pasay City. The network lounge social hour will be hosted by Ginebra San Miguel and Marco Polo Hotels.
The celebration will cap the day’s PTM activities and executive meetings, which include a courtesy call by the PATA Executive Board on President Aquino in Malacanang in the morning, PATA Youth Forum at the Lyceum of the Philippines University from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and a full day of business-to-business transactions between buyers and sellers of package tours and travel products and services from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Following the celebration is a dinner reception hosted by the PATA Philippine Chapter for buyers and media, and a late night function co-hosted by TTG Asia Media with Hyatt Hotel and Casino from 9:30 p.m. to 12 midnight.
The PTM runs from Sept. 25 to 28 at the SMX Convention Center, with at least 810 executives of 582 companies from 58 countries, confirming their participation.
“That means the world’s continents will do business in the Philippines during the PTM, which effectively covers the Americas, the Asia Pacific, and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa),” DOT Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions and Philippine Host Organizing Committee Chairman Daniel G. Corpuz said.
“PTM will mark the resurgence of the Philippines as an international MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and events) destination with its new and improved capacity to host association conferences and corporate meetings,” Corpuz added. He also cited the September 28-30 PATA Executive Board and Board of Directors meetings at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel as a market model.
Supporting the PTM are local sponsors Philippine Airlines, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Primer Group of Companies, SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation, Hertz Philippines, Marco Polo Hotels, Tourism Infrastructure Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), Globe Telecom, Inc., Duty Free Philippines, Victory Liner, Nurture Tropical Spa, Resorts World Manila, and the city government of Pasay.
More information on the PTM can be obtained from the PHOC Secretariat and PATA.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
