RP Tops Ticket Booking Sales in France
April 29, 2009
FRANCE — The Philippines is the no. 1 Asia Pacific destination in terms of sold airline tickets by all airlines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) office here reported. RP recorded a 60% growth rate in terms of tickets issued by all airlines in almost all French travel agencies from January to February 2009, compared with figures in 2008.
Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said, “Our aggressive marketing campaign in several major travel trade fairs in Europe has allowed us to strengthen our established links with the French market.”
He added, “The DOT has continued to enhance our campaign for high-spending French travelers, promoting the country’s nature, adventure and culture.”
According to the Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP), figures representing the number of tickets issued by all airlines in 4,000 travel agencies in France, the Philippines is the strongest in terms of progression for Asian destinations for the January-February 2009 period.
Durano attributed the growth in ticket bookings to the country’s myriad of adventures and travel options. “The country offers diving and other exciting activities from all kinds water sports to exhilarating expeditions such as hiking, trekking, spelunking, to name a few. We also have bird-watching, which is fast gaining acclaim from eco-travelers.”
Tourism Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions Eduardo Jarque, Jr. said, “The French market has been familiar with our destinations because of key reasons, among which is the country’s active participation in travel trade fairs and our partnership with the TV program Koh Lanta, which featured Caramoan in Camarines Sur, and Palawan.”
The Tourism First Quarter Report showed that Camarines Sur and Palawan were the leading major destinations in terms of growth rate, at 43.23% and 93.29%, respectively.
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Photo shows the DOT-France Tourism Office headed by Venus Tan, (front, 3rd from left) and Verna Buensuceso (front, 4th from left) in one of the sales missions conducted by the Department of Tourism.
The news from the Philippine Department of Tourism in France was an affirmation of Tourism Secretary Ace Durano’s optimism that tourist arrivals to the country will continue to increase despite the global crunch.
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Office of the Undersecretary for Planning & Promotions
Department of Tourism - Manila
Tel. No. 524-1694 / 400-1993
Importance of Vaccination Against Diarrhea & Rotavirus
April 28, 2009
A Forum on the impact of rotavirus and infectious diarrhea on families and caregivers was held last Thursday, April 23, 2009 from 10:30 am – 1:00 pm at First Place Restaurant in Hyatt Hotel, Manila. I was fortunate enough to have attended the event together with my brother Mark, his wife Shannon and my baby nephew Dominic Mark (or DM for short).
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) unveiled the findings of the latest study assessing the burden on Filipino caregivers in terms of quality of life and costs of having a child hospitalized for infectious diarrhea caused by rotavirus.
Let me give you some background information about this killer virus among children.
Rotavirus infection kills more than 600,000 people every year in the world today. Death due to rotavirus infection is usually caused by dehydration due to severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Acute diarrhea remains one of the five leading causes of sickness and deaths among children in the Philippines. Yet the burden of diarrhea falls not only on the infant but also on the caregiver, whose quality of life suffers in many ways.
PHILIPPINE TOURISM: CREATING EMPLOYMENT WITH EXPANDED INVESTMENTS AND INCREASED TRAVEL MOVEMENT
April 27, 2009Room capacity in key tourist destinations for the first quarter of 2009 expanded with the opening of new hotels and resorts that created additional employment in the midst of global economic downturn.
For the period January to March 2009, a total of 1,231 additional rooms were opened. With an aggregate cost of P8.016 Billion, these new investments directly employed 1,286 people.
The opening of the P3.18 Billion Imperial Palace Water Park, Resort and Spa increased the room supply in Cebu by 4% to 14,792. With 616 rooms, this new tourism project provided employment to 780 workers.
The San Remigio Beach Club in the northern part of Cebu has also opened its new facilities during the first quarter. With P8.5 Million in investments, the resort has built a convention facility to capture the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) of both international and domestic markets.
Shangri-la’s Boracay Resort and Spa, a high-end 217-room resort in Boracay Island, opened just in time for the influx of tourists on vacation and long holidays. The resort has initially hired 488 workers to manage its various ranges of product offerings.
Seven locators investing in 28 cluster villas for a total cost of P 761.9 Million in the Amanpulo Tourism Enterprise Zone in Palawan also began their operation during the first quarter.
In Metro Manila, the opening of the Legend International’s Park, Bed and Breakfast Hotel, Eurotel Hotel Branch in Makati, and the expansion of Oakwood Serviced Residences increased the total room supply by 320.
By year-end, some 1,946 people will be directly employed nationwide once the additional 2,315 rooms become operational in the following destinations:
· Metro Manila: Manila Ocean Park (120 rooms), The Picasso Serviced Residences (136 rooms), Newport Marriott Hotel (342 rooms), and Maxims Hotel (178 rooms)
· Cebu: Radisson Hotel (400 rooms)
· Boracay: Crowne Regency (449), Phonex Hotel (130 rooms), Boracay Regency Lagoon (120 rooms), Seven Stones (100 rooms), Grand Water (100 rooms)
· Puerto Princesa: Microtel Inns and Suites (50 rooms)
· Tagaytay: Summer Ridge (108 rooms)
· Albay: Discovery Bay Misibis (82 rooms)
With greater demand for tourism services, the Department of Tourism (DOT) endorsed five development projects worth P6.323 Billion in the first quarter of the year. These initiatives will generate 6,340 employment opportunities for local residents in the said tourist areas.
A US$ 200-Million luxury spa and resort is also set to be developed by Banyan Tree in a 55-hectare property in Diwaran Island of Palawan. This project will generate 8,000 direct and indirect jobs during the planning, construction and operational stages from 2009 to 2012.
In Subic, Harbor Yacht Services (HYS) Philippines will construct a restaurant and resort in a marina facility with an investment package of P 36.1 Million.
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MTV & DOT Launch Awesome Philippines
The Sexy Nomad attends the launch of Awesome Philippines.
On April 22, 2009, Adam Mordo and I were lucky to be among other key travel bloggers who got invited at M Cafe in Ayala Museum for the launch of AWESOME PHILIPPINES.
The Mordo meets the Secretary of Dept. of Tourism, Sec. Joseph “Arce” Durano
MTV Asia and the Philippine Department of Tourism headed by Secretary Joseph “Arce” Durano, have set in motion Awesome Philippines, a very unique national tourism crusade for the whole country. It was implemented as part of MTV Revelations and uses a series of video vignettes and new media in promoting the Philippines to youth travelers in eleven overseas markets, including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore.
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Sweetest Love Letter … as always
April 26, 2009I was feeling quite nostalgic this Sunday evening. Peter and I have been spending most of today inside the bedroom and come late evening, I started feeling restless for some reason. I went to the library and checked out old photos, scrapbooks & love letters. I tend to do this when I’m being hormonal. Anyway, on my old scrapbook, I found a hard copy of an email from Peter dating back 2005 pasted on one of its pages. Naturally, I re-read it. It brought back joyful tears in my eyes. How did I get so lucky? I must have done something good in my life to deserve this kind of love, and for that, I am forever grateful.
~~~oOo~~~
Click to read more about the sweetest love letter.
Fashion Goes Green
April 25, 2009I’ve mentioned several times on my fashion blog that I am recycling, mixing & matching my old apparel to save money and help out a bit financially in these economically troubled times. However, economy is not the only concern that needs our attention here. The planet is also in a bit of a rut environmentally speaking. Have we done our share to save the planet? As fashionistas, have we at least done our part to go green?
Having been personally active in doing my share of going green at home and finding out more ways on how I can personally contribute, I came across this Eco-friendly fashion site and found a lot of interesting apparel & accessories that use 100% recycled cotton, bamboo, fine grade hemp and other organic materials, many of which are fashioned, styled & designed by people (mostly youth) who are inhabiting the endangered rain forests in Central and South America, then handmade in Peru. Isn’t that amazing? Even the prints on their bag collection are done using vegetable based inks which are then packaged with recycled cardboard box that has been printed with organic soy-based waterless inks.
It is an eco-boutique of sorts. They carry designer items like apparel for men, women, children and babies; vintage tees & accessories; fashionable jackets, tops & bottoms; high couture handbags and exotic watches; bamboo bathrobes & towels — all of which were made the environment-friendly way. Their site is so easy to use too. Just click on the items you like add them to your cart and pay using your credit card! It’s that easy. It’s good that by online shopping alone, you already save on gas, time & effort. But it’s even better when you shop for stuff that will not only make you pretty, but makes our planet a little more beautiful and safe too. Fashionistas and recessionistas, what are you waiting for? It’s time to go pretty & go green!
Life Immediately After Bora
April 20, 2009Isa’s Birthday Bash
Cebu Pacific’s flight got delayed on April 3. So instead of being at home late in the afternoon, we arrived late in the evening, tired, uber sunburnt and with aching joints. We didn’t have proper dinner anymore. As soon as we hit our bed, we immediately fell asleep. I didn’t even have the energy to unpack our things, as O.C. as I can be. That was how overfatigued we were.
On the other hand, we did need the rest because the next evening, Peter’s beautiful first cousin Isa was celebrating her birthday and we were invited. It was held at Route 168 along Visayas Ave. in Q.C. Jayvee was invited too! We picked him up at home and off we went to Isa’s birthday bash for some bonding and booze.
Honestly, I was quite surprised when we got there. I surmised that there would be a lot of people since Isa is a very friendly gal. But family? That was totally unexpected. Since Peter’s Mom died in 2002 and the fallout Peter had with that side of his family (more…)
Travelogue XXXVIII: Boracay Honeymoon Day 7 (April 3, 2009)
April 19, 2009Note: “Honeymoon” is a term I use whenever my husband and I vacation in an exotic destination. We are not newly weds. In fact, we’ve been married for almost 7 years now and counting. This is our 6th year as Club Panoly members, our 9th visit so far and we make it a point to visit once or twice every year. We consider Boracay our second home.
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For those who would like to read my Boracay 2009 travelogue from the start, click:
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Let’s go fly some fish.. whut?
You read that right! We were going to flyfish!!! There was even supposed to be parasailing that day but because we woke up late, it didn’t push thru. It was our last morning at Bora. Peter, Cecille and I were scheduled to fly out of our paradise middle of that afternoon so we crammed whatever activity we can afford to do on that final morning.
First on the agenda was to go flyfishing. Woohoo!!! We were all very excited to do this. Anyway, we’ve parasailed in Kota Kinabalu before so that was no biggie. Flyfishing on the other hand, was a first for all of us.
We all met up at the beach and hurriedly walked somewhere in station 3 to the same guy we talked to the previous day when we went sailing. His rates were cheaper than most locals offering water sport activities. We all paid Php350 each for 30 minutes of flyfishing (speedboat ride to the docking station in the middle of the sea not included). I felt both excited and terrified at the same time! I wasn’t sure if I still had the stamina and the courage to brave these kinds of activities but what the heck! Life is too short.
Upon reaching the docking station, we were immediately handed life vests. But instead of wearing them, we took some time doing some major photo op. It was our last day after all and the boatmen didn’t mind. They even took our photos on their jet skis. Sweet.
Then the minute has arrived when we all had to ride the flyfish. It’s very much roomy as compared to a banana boat but the thing that scared me the most was the fact that I might be thrown off the water while at the same time being kicked by the one in front of me.This happened to me in Puerto Galera before I my chest (where I was hit) ached for several days if I remember correctly. Oh well. “This is it!”, I thought.
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