The Philippine Travel Mart (PTM) 2022 event edition has been slated on September 30 to October 2 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. PTM is one of the country’s longest-running travel exposition.
The expo will feature exhibits by over 200 exhibitors. It offers sure accommodations, flights, and international and domestic travel packages at discounted prices.
Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) president Fe Abling-Yu said they have been “waiting for a long time and now is the perfect time to travel again, support local businesses, and explore the Philippines and beyond.”
Abling-Yu said the expo this year is targeted to match the PTM held prior to the pandemic. The expo had been staged for the last two years but exhibitors only reached over 50 both in 2020 and 2021.
“Pre-pandemic, we had over 200 exhibitors then so we are a bit closer to the pre-pandemic level now,” he noted.
The expo’s layout features designated zones for various tourism products such as sun and beach, marine sports, cruise; health, wellness, culinary; cultural, farm tourism; entertainment and Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE).
Also included in this year’s PTM offers are tour packages in Bali, Indonesia; Siem Reap, Cambodia; Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, as well as Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea.
On the sidelines of the recent PTM launch, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said the Philippines could compete with its Southeast Asian neighbors and leading tourist destinations in the region.
“If you put our country side by side with our main competitors in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, what we offer are almost the same if not better. In that, we have beaches, natural resources, beautiful people, beautiful products, various destinations,” she stresed.
Frasco told tourism stakeholders the DOT will introduce shortly programs to improve the overall tourist experience in the country to further position the country as a top tourist destination.
Aligned with the PTM’s 2022 theme “Safe Travels,” Frasco also assured travelers she has personally instructed concerned offices to ensure that tourist sites in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao are “safe and well-equipped to welcome and receive guests.”
“We will also provide a convenient and better tourism experience for both foreign and domestic travelers through standardized travel protocols,” she assured.
“We have reached out to the DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government), the Bureau of Immigration, and the Bureau of Quarantine to ensure that our entry protocols are reasonable, are consistent throughout the country, and will encourage, not dissuade, tourists from coming to the Philippines and going from place to place across our country,” she added.