31 October 2014 – Popular resort Plantation Bay treated South Korean media and travel industry representatives to a themed dinner event in central Seoul on October 23 to showcase the Philippines as an attractive travel destination for South Korean tourists.
In his welcome remarks, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez invited the guests to the Viva! Plantation Bay 2014 event held at the Nine Tree Convention Center to visit the Philippines and Cebu, one of the most popular destinations among Koreans visiting the country.
Ambassador Hernandez highlighted that the Philippines was awarded as the Destination of the Year at the 25th Annual TTG Travel Awards held in Bangkok on October 02 in recognition of the Philippine government’s proactive steps and initiatives to develop and promote the domestic travel industry.
He also commended the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, represented by Efren Belarmino, Vice President for Marketing, for organizing the event as this is in line with the Philippine Department of Tourism’s (DOT) launch of the “Visit the Philippines Year 2015” campaign.
The event in Seoul was the second held by Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Korea in 2014, following a similar gala dinner held on October 21 at Paradise Hotel in Busan. A total of 200 travel agents attended the two events. It plans to continue holding the themed dinners every two years since it held the first in 2012.
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, which is located in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, not far from Cebu’s gateway, the Mactan International Airport, is one of the most popular resorts for South Korean tourists.
South Korea remains to be the top source of foreign visitors to the Philippines. In 2013, the number of South Koreans visiting the Philippines totalled 1.17 million or a quarter of all tourist arrivals. Of this total, 400,000 visited Cebu. For the first eight months of 2014, 783,852 South Korean tourists have visited the Philippines or 24% of total inbound traffic. END