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UFTAA Congress to include travel mart |
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The Philippines will host the United Federation of Travel Agents’ Associations (UFTAA) World Congress in October at Manila’s Philippine International Convention Center.
An attendance of 300 delegates is expected and for the first time in UFTAA’s history, the congress will feature an international travel exchange.
Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) and Rajah Tours Philippines president, Mr Jojo Clemente, said: “It is being introduced as UFTAA feels this is an opportunity to bring together the movers and shakers of the industry and there is always a constant demand for a marketplace where people can exchange information and products in this vastly expanding industry.”
Another new feature is the inclusion of inbound topics in discussions.
Previously, only outbound matters were addressed.
This, according to Mr Clemente, marks the shift of UFTAA towards a better representation of its membership and a realisation that inbound and outbound matters are closely interlinked.
UFTAA’s inbound committee has largely tackled issues relating to agencies’ relationships with airlines and IATA.
“There was already a move to get more into the inbound side of the industry within UFTAA.
“We decided to give it a little more push as we felt the respective members’ associations probably have inbound companies as their members and it would be good for UFTAA to tackle issues of both concerns”, Mr Clemente said.
Inbound topics will most probably include standards of land transportation in member countries, sustainability of tourist destinations and hotel industry policies viewed as detrimental to the further expansion of travel agencies’ businesses.
This year’s event is the second time the UFTAA Congress is held in Manila; the first was in the early 1980s.
Mr Clemente welcomed its return: “The UFTAA World Congress 2008 is a chance for us to further showcase what the Philippines can offer as a destination to the major players in the global tourism industry. We expect awareness for the Philippines to be heightened with this event.”
The winning bid was officially announced during the UFTAA World Congress 2007 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Mr Clemente said: “UFTAA felt it was time to come back to the Philippines.
“This is a strong indication that the Philippines is a desired destination not only for leisure tourists but also for meetings and conventions.”
As the country’s official representative to UFTAA, the PTAA will chair the Philippine Host Committee.
The Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation, the marketing arm of the Department of Tourism, will be co-chair.
The host committee will be responsible for accommodation and transportation arrangements, official functions and other congress-related activities.
The PTAA has scheduled the event for October 18 to 21.
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