Travel expo to offer more than cheap seats

The 18th edition of the Travel Tour Expo from Feb. 18 to 20 will fill all four halls of the convention center. The mix will consist of 256 tourism-related companies from within the region, the Middle East, North America, South America, South Africa and Europe.

Ma. Paz R. Alberto, event chair and immediate past president of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) said at the press conference for this year’s expo dubbed "Around the World in Three Days" that visitors will be able to book complete travel itineraries from airline and hotel accommodations to day tours and side trips.

"We want people to realize that while many airlines now offer low-priced tickets, travel agencies can offer more than that. When you book your trip through a travel agent, there is the option to rebook should the need arise. With some airlines, that option is next to impossible," Ms. Alberto said.Apparently, local travel agencies are encountering stiff competition from budget airlines like Cebu Pacific (CEB), Zest Air and Air Philippines that offer inexpensive plane tickets every so often.

In the December 2010 issue of Record Locator, the in-house magazine of the PTAA, Ms. Alberto drew the proverbial line in the sand when she wrote about their "campaign against the Web fare promos of airlines which for the past two years have competed unfairly with the operations of travel agencies."

She added that "the price differential on the [airlines’] online promos and what we offer is no longer as astonishingly big [unlike before]. Their online promos now also only offer limited seats and destinations."

Asked to react on the issue raised by Ms. Alberto, Candice Iyog, CEB vice-president for marketing and distribution told BusinessWorld: "We continue to work with travel agencies and have in fact, never excluded them because even when we have seat sales, it remains available through the GDS (Amadeus system).The Amadeus IT Group is a transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry."We also keep our communication lines with the travel agencies open," Ms. Iyog added.

Go east

Visitors to the expo might want to consider other Asian destinations aside from the always popular Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.As Ms. Alberto writes Record Locator, the PTAA has been "working hard to strengthen its relationship with its regional counterparts" most notably Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Taiwan.

"We believe there is a big potential in inter-Asian travel. There are a lot of great destinations within the region which travel agencies can package in a variety of ways," she added.Last year, the expo welcomed 80,000 visitors consisting of travel and tourism trade practitioners, corporate and business travelers, incentive and convention planners, government and business leaders, and direct buyers and investors.

This year, the 256 participants that will occupy 472 booths will include airline companies, cruise operators, domestic tour operators, government agencies, embassies and national tourism organizations, hotels and resorts, international tour operators and travel shops. Many of them will offer huge discounts on travel packages, products and services.Visitors to the expo can look forward to hourly programs at the stage area as well as raffle draws for those who purchase travel packages and tickets.

Source = bworldonline