Saturday, April 16, 2016
On its 8th year, the Philippines is participating in the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016 which opened yesterday, 12 April 2016 and will end on 15 April 2016. The event is held at the Prince Sultan Grand Hall in, Al Faisaliyah Tower Hotel, King Fahad Road, Riyadh.
This is the 4th straight year that the Philippines is participating in this travel and tourism event which is aimed in promoting investment, development and sustainability of the rravel and tourism sector in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. The Philippines’ 72 square meter booth located at the right side of the grand hall is one of the biggest booths in the event.
To show its full support for the event, a Philippine delegation from the Department of Tourism (DOT) headed by Assistant Secretary Arturo Boncato, Jr., together with Mr. Glen Raymund Agustin and Mr. Stalingrad F. Samson, arrived in Riyadh on 11 April 2016. They were also joined by representatives from AVIAREPS, Philippine tourism marketing office based in Dubai, representatives from Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific and from Emirates Airways. The group will personally attend to visitors and answer their queries on the various tourist destinations in the Philippines during the 4-day event.
As part of their Philippine tourism promotion, the group met with the different travel agents in Riyadh to re-launch the “Kids Go Free” and “Visit the Philippines Year” campaign programs. Assistant Secretary Boncato also informed the group on the recent launching of the “Halal Tourism” Program of the Department of Tourism which is aimed at increasing the number of accredited halal certified kitchens of the different hotels and restaurant in the Philippines.
In 2015, the Department of Tourism has recorded a total of 50,884 tourist arrivals to the Philippines from Saudi Arabia. This figure shows a 17.02% increase as compared to the 2014 arrivals which is 43,483. Among the countries in the GCC, Saudi Arabia has the highest number of visitors from the Middle East to the Philippines since 2009 and is consistently increasing each year.
The Filipino community in Riyadh is encouraged to visit the Philippine booth at the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016 which will run until Friday, 15 April 2016 from 4:00 pm until 10:00 pm.
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