ORGANIZER of the biggest consumer travel show is bringing into the stage once again its eight installment of International Travel Festival (ITF) to attract more locals and foreigners to tour around the country and overseas with affordable travel deals and packages.
The 8th ITF, happening on March 24-26, 2023, at the Ayala Center Cebu is anchored on the theme, “Exactly what you need.”
Stephanie Villahermosa of MyEventology Co. said the return of the of ITF this year is a follow through of the revenge travel observed last year. But this time around, the group expects more exhibitors to join them as travel restrictions across the country have eased.
“We are looking forward to having all those aggressive sales and marketing promotions, all on a grand scale in the coming weeks as we level up the enthusiasm of the ITF 2023,” said Villahermosa, during the media launch of ITF 2023 on Thursday, March 2, 2023 at the Seda Hotel Ayala Central Bloc.
Last year’s ITF had 56 exhibitors translated to 102 booths. The three-day show enjoyed close to a 190,000 foot traffic visitors, generating business receipts amounting to P82 million.
ITF 2023 has already recorded more than a hundred exhibitors and counting from national tourism organizations, local government units, hotels, resorts, airlines, travel agents, tour operators and financial institutions, among others that promise value-laden tour packages, exciting air fares, travel deals and staycation packages.
ITF helps resume travel and tourism in Cebu and the neighboring provinces as well as spur the productivity for industry stakeholders and plays a big part in revitalizing the industry in Cebu and the nearby provinces.
Gelena Asis-Dimpas, chief tourism operations officer of the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, said ITF’s theme this year is “reflective of where we are at now in our journey towards full recovery” and the three-day event is an opportunity for Filipinos to reclaim what they’ve been deprived of the past two years.
“Events like ITF and Cebu Travel Exchange gives us a positive signal that indeed we are on track to full recovery by the end of 2023,” said Dimpas, referring to the UN World Trade Organization’s pronouncement on the recovery of global tourism. “And this is something that the DOT is seriously committing to. That’s why we are collaborating, campaigning for, and supporting (events like this) so it could bring us closer to this particular goal.”
The DOT sets a “conservative” target of 4.8 million international arrivals in 2023.
Earlier, Tourism Undersecretary Elaine Bathan said that as of Feb. 18, the country had already logged almost a million arrivals.
Meanwhile, Villahermosa announces that the Cebu Travel Exchange is back and is happening on March 23, 2023 at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu. The event is a business-to-business matching that links buyers and sellers and creates better opportunities in the tourism space.