Davao a strong international events destination- Marques

DAVAO CITY- Coming from the recent Asean Tourism Forum 2016 City Tourism Operations Office OIC Lisette Marques said that Davao is a strong contender for international events.

“We are at par from what we have seen in Manila” Marques said who along with local government officials and other tourism stakeholders in the region attended the ATF held in Manila from January 18-25.

Marques said that Davao City has nearly 9,000 rooms from ranging from de luxe hotels to budget accommodations, it also has the facilities and a wide inventory of talents.

“Manila should farm out these international events to the other regions.” The CTOO head said.

She cited that several visitors to their booth who would still recall and give praises to the past ATF held in Davao City a decade ago.

Davao City hosted the ATF in 2006 after Myanmar deferred hosting the event. The ATF is a cooperative annual event attended by tourism officials and private sector players of the ten Asean countries which aims to promote the region as one tourism destination.

Marques says the city spent P1.1 million for their 24-square meter booth in the event which was attended by 400 buyers from 62 countries. The booth attracted 120 bookings. About 90 ATF delegates had their post-ATF tour in Davao City.

The CTOO head said they are looking at the city offering incentivized tour packages. These are customized tour packages for a specific group of tourists. Characteristics of incentivized packages include welcome cultural performances at the airport, welcome drinks at the hotel, special dinners with performances.

Marques says these are smaller tourism groups but spends more than those taking regular tour packages. (PIA/RG Alama)