The Philippine Travel Exchange (PHITEX), the country’s biggest and government-organized travel trade expo, kicked off on Monday, Sept. 20, a hybrid edition for the second straight year amid the pandemic.
With the theme “Beyond Business: Co-creating Safe, Smart, and Sustainable Tourism,” PHITEX 2021 aims to highlight safe, smart, and sustainable tourism as part of the Tourism Promotions Board's (TPB) strategic marketing plan for the new normal.
In a press conference at the Acea Subic Beach Resort, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said the theme is aligned with the agency's established strategic pillars of its Tourism Response and Recovery Program that will guide the industry towards recovery.
"We believe this will be an excellent opportunity for all those involved to learn about our latest tourism products development and how we recalibrated them to the demands of travelers in the new normal," Puyat noted.
The tourism chief also emphasized the Department's goals to vaccinate all tourism workers by 2022, leverage technology to market and promote tourism products, and pursue community-based tourism programs.
According to the TPB, a total of 156 Philippine sellers (33 onsite, 123 virtual) and 122 buyers from 33 countries are joining the two-day online business-to-business (B2B) session and networking with projected revenue of P107.9 million.
This year's PHITEX, organized by TPB, the marketing arm of the DOT, is already its second hybrid mode since the lockdown last year due to gathering restrictions brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
With the success of the first-ever hybrid PHITEX held in Bohol last year, TPB Chief Operating Officer Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones is also optimistic that this year's event will help create a "better normal" for the tourism industry.
Based on the data shared by the TPB, a total of 1,258 B2B appointments have been approved so far as of Monday morning or a couple of hours since the event started.
Meanwhile, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma called on travelers to observe strict health and safety protocols when visiting tourist spots such as Subic to help in the industry's revival.
"For us, this is the way to safe and sustainable tourism. We all have to take it upon ourselves that COVID is our responsibility. responsibility of everyone to be safe so we can go home to our loved ones, we can go home to our community and not spread the disease," she added.
Subic Bay Freeport Zone became this year's choice for PHITEX 2021 as it met the DOT requirements for holding MICE (meeting, incentive, convention, and exhibition) events in wide-open spaces.
Aside from travel trade activities, PHITEX 2021 will also offer curated post-tours in bubble arrangements to onsite participants to showcase Central Luzon's best tourism destinations including Batalan River, Grande Island, Pamulaklakin, El Kabayo, Apaliin, among others.