07 May 2015, Singapore—The Tourism Promotions Board of the Department of Tourism (DOT), through its Representative Office in Singapore, conducted a sales mission to Singapore on May 7, 2015. The highlight of the sales mission is the business matching session at the Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre. The Guest of Honor for the sales event–Philippine Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Antonio A. Morales, delivered the welcome address.
The Philippine delegation was composed of fifteen (15) companies that included travel agencies, tour operators, representatives of hotels and resorts and three airlines—Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines and Silk Air. Delegates from the government side included Mr. James A. Sy and Ms. Pauline H. Lazaro, Officer-in-Charge and Marketing Specialist, respectively, of the ASEAN and Pacific Division of the International Promotions Department, Tourism Promotions Board. The Marketing Director of the DOT Representative Office in Singapore, Mr. Charles Leong, was also present.
In his welcome address, Ambassador Morales recalled the speech of Philippine Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez last year during the launch of DOT’s latest promotion campaign dubbed “Visit Philippines 2015”. Amb. Morales recalled that Sec. Jimenez emphasized that “the Philippines and Singapore can work closely together in promoting each other’s country as a tourist destination.” He also noted that the Philippines “biggest selling point are the Filipinos themselves who are by nature, one of the warmest and most hospitable people on earth, which is one the reasons why the rate of return of tourists to the Philippines is at 65 percent.” Amb. Morales exhorted the participants to the sales mission event “to reinvigorate our partnership to promote tourism.”
During the one-on-one business matching session, members of the Philippine delegation were given the rare opportunity to personally meet their counterparts from Singapore and discuss in detail the various offerings of the Philippine companies. There were around 65 participants from Singapore, including travel agencies, tour operators and online ticket agents. Towards the end of the event, there was a raffle draw where round-trip tickets to various destinations and hotel accommodations in the Philippines were given away.
