THE Philippines Department of Tourism – Davao Regional Office last week launched three tourism initiatives for 2016, namely the Visit Davao Fun Sale 2016, Let’s Meet in Davao: MICE Davao Program, and the 9th Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge.
Making the announcement during the 23rd Travel and Tour Expo 2016 held in SMX Convention Center, Pasay City, DoT Region XI director Roberto Alabado, III, said: “These three institutional tourism programmes will help position Davao as the ‘islands to highlands’ destination for adventure, beach holiday, food and culture, shopping and as a premier MICE destination.”
The Visit Davao Fun Sale will take place from March 25 to May 31, featuring a city-wide sale and events programme with discounts and promotions for tours, accommodation, shopping, dining, relaxation and adventure activities. Some event highlights include theDurianMan Triathlon, the Davao Grand Indie Film Festival and a pub crawl.
Davao tourism authorities are also conducting roadshows and closing deals with MICE planners and service providers, including airlines, to offer greater support for conference and event organisers.
Currently, Cebu Pacific and AirAsia Philippines have agreed to co-brand with the Let’s Meet in Davao: MICE Davao Program by promoting on their own websites special airfare rates for MICE participants. The two carriers will also participate in roadshows alongside Davao’s MICE executive committee.
For adventure travellers, the Mount Apo Boulder Face Challenge, where participants race to the peak of the country’s highest mountain and back down within 24 hours, will be held this year from 23 to 24 April.
Davao welcomed nearly 2 million visitors in 2015, 1.8 million of which were domestic travellers, 121,604 were foreign visitors, and 4,870 were overseas Filipinos. An estimated 26.7 billion pesos (US$561 million) in tourist receipts were generated from those arrivals, a 10.2 per cent increase from 2014.
