In line with the Department of Tourism’s thrust of expanding domestic tourism, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), the marketing arm of DOT, recently concluded another successful run of its Regional Travel Fair held in the City of Golden Friendship, Cagayan de Oro.
Held at the Limketkai Center, the travel fair provided Cagayanons, as well as those from the neighboring provinces in Region 10, a chance to discover and book exclusive and affordable tour packages from DOT-accredited tour operators, airlines, and other exhibitors like hotels and resorts.
A half-day travel exchange table-top session also take place for participating tour operators, travel agents, domestic hotels and resorts, destination management companies, and airlines to generate direct sales and business leads, meet new partners, and renew deals.
Supported by local government units of Northern Mindanao, the Regional Travel Fair was held in time for the celebration of the Higalaay Festival, and aims to promote and strengthen domestic tourism in Cagayan de Oro.
Cagayan de Oro has been considered as one of the nine “emerging cities of tomorrow” by the United Nations Human Settlements Programe in 2014. With a rich culture and history as reflected in its landmarks, churches and museums, as well as scenic locations like pristine beaches, rivers, majestic mountains and caves, CDO indeed has a lot to offer its visitors.
TPB, through its Domestic Promotions Department, has been developing and implementing aggressive marketing strategies to increase domestic travel to key regions in the country to encourage a greater level of spending, especially in emerging regions. As per DOT’s data, domestic tourism expenditure ballooned by 19.1 percent from P1,770.7 billion in 2015 to 2,108.2 billion in 2016.
Domestic tourism expenditure also represents 19.8 percent of the household final consumption expenditure in 2016.
With the TPB Regional Travel Fair, more and more Filipinos will now get a chance to discover and experience the many wonderful and unique destinations the Philippines has to offer.
