17 March 2015 – The Philippine Consulate General and the Department of Tourism in New York (PDOT) joined the 2015 Beneath the Sea Travel Show which was held from March 27 to 29 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey.
The PDOT set up a 10 x 20 exhibition booth for the Philippines, which displayed several pictures taken from scuba divers in various sea regions of the country at the travel show, which is considered to be the largest consumer scuba and diving travel show in America.
On hand at the PDOT booth were New York Consul General Mario L. De Leon and spouse Madame Eleanor De Leon, Ms. Mitchell Dy, PDOT Officer-in-Charge, Mr. Jetro Lozada, assistant chief operating officer (COO) for the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) in the Philippines, Mr. Michael Marquez, a member of the Scuba Work Team Operations Department for TIEZA, Mr. Jonas Westerberg, co-owner of the Kasai Village Dive and Spa Resort in Cebu, Ms. Desiree Pullens, marketing director of the Magic Island Dive Resort in Cebu, and Ms. Lynn Funkhouser, who was named Diver of the Year 2014.
Visitors to the booth, which was among the most visited at the event, were given Philippine tourism bags containing books and brochures on diving and snorkeling sites in the Philippines, such as Panglao, Bohol, Cebu, Anilao, Verde Island, Apo Reef, Coron, and Puerto Galera.
Exhibit booths which heavily promoted dive tour packages exclusively in the Philippines were the Marco Vincent Dive Resort in White Beach, Puerto Galera, which was right next to the PDOT booth, and the Atlantis Dive Resorts & Liveaboards, which offers dive packages to Puerto Galera, Verde Island, Apo Reef and Coron. Other agency exhibit booths which offered dive tour packages in the Philippines were Siren Fleet, Pacific Dive and Travel, Inc., World of Diving, Atlantis Philippines Dive Resorts & Liveaboards, Scuba Travel Ventures, Poseidon Dive Adventures, and Indigo Safaris.
During the event’s conference panel programs, seven speakers gave presentations on Philippine dive sites at the nearby Holiday Inn Hotel,” namely Mr. Richard Ladisky of the “Expedition Tubbataha Reef Pt. 1 & 2/Adventure to Malapascua Island”, Tony Gramer of the “Philippines: A Diver’s Paradise”, Andrew Martinez of “Beautiful Philippines”, Michael Salvarezza and Christopher Weaver of “Puerto Galera and Verde Island, Jewels of the Philippines”, and John Ares and Dr. Anita George-Ares of “The Whale Sharks of Oslob”. The presentations were well attended, with approximately 20-30 attendees for each panel. END