Travel sector remains bullish over recovery
We want to contribute and be part of the full recovery effort of the travel industry and we want to use our Travel Tour Expo as the main vehicle for promoting tourism in the country.
As one of the worst hit industries when strict mobility restrictions were imposed during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, incurring billions of losses and shuttered businesses in their industry, the Philippine Travel Agencies Association said they remain bullish for their industry toward the last quarter of the year and the years to come.
As of end-March 2021, the travel industry has an accumulated losses of $47.7 billion.
With this, PTTA president Michelle Taylan, on Friday, said that indeed there's light at the end of the tunnel, so long the Covid-19 cases will not escalate into a problematic one just like in 2020 and 2021.
She said the continuous staging of travel fairs since borders reopened proves that the tourism sector is on its way to recovery.
"Based on our booking experiences even in (Southeast Asia), that is actually their problem now because they have limited airline this time and a lot of foreign tourists are arriving. Same thing here in the Philippines since the borders were reopened," she said.
Taylan said in July, the PTAA successfully capped the 2022 Travel Tour Expo and International Travel Trade Expo, with 30,000 to 45,000 attending in three days.
For next year's travel expo, Taylan said their group is geared to double this year's figure, along with the number of exhibitors approximately to reach 400 running more than 1,000 booths, which would include tour agencies and airlines offering various packages at a discounted rate.
Apart from local tour packages, travel offers to destinations in Asia and even as far as Africa will also be sold at the expo.
"We want to contribute and be part of the full recovery effort of the travel industry and we want to use our Travel Tour Expo as the main vehicle in promoting tourism in the country," Taylan said.
The 2023 travel expo is set to be held at the SMX Convention Center on 3 to 5 February next year.
The PTAA only projected a million inbound tourists for 2022, but the latest figures from the Department of Tourism already recorded 1.3 million foreigners before the year ends.