THE Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) said a regional trade show generated over P100 million in sales leads for 16 exhibitors from the Philippine tourism industry.
The TPB, the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism (DoT), was reporting the result of Philippine participation in the ASEAN Tourism Forum.
In a statement on Monday, the TPB said the Philippine delegation, representing airlines, tour operators, and the accommodations industry, were in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to exhibit their offerings.
Within ASEAN, Singapore and Malaysia were the ninth and tenth largest sources of visitors to the Philippines before the pandemic, according to the DoT. In 2019, the Philippines tallied 158,595 visitors from Singapore and 139,882 from Malaysia.
In 2022, some 50,964 Singapore tourists and 44,357 Malaysians visited the country. The DoT also reported Vietnam as a top 10 country of origin last year with 37,028 visitors.
At the forum, Tourism Secretary Maria Esperanza Christina G. Frasco put out the welcome mat for ASEAN visitors.
“We aim to give you the best of the Filipino to remind you that while the Philippines continues to be a top-of-mind destination all over the world, there is much more to our beaches, our dive sites, our mountain ranges, and our underground rivers,” she said.
The DoT is seeking to highlight other elements like food and living cultural traditions. A pavilion at the trade show highlighted Philippine coffee company Kaulayaw and a performance by the Lapu-Lapu Arnis de Abanico martial arts organization. — Brontë H. Lacsamana