20 October 2015 – The Philippine Embassy in Warsaw met with the organizers of the annual tourism/travel trade fair in Poland called Tour Salon, specifically with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Targi Poznan Mr. Prrzemyslaw Trava and the Director for Institutional Cooperation of Poznan International Fair Mr. Grzegorz Turkiewicz on October 17 in the City of Poznan.
The two officials urged the Philippine Embassy to participate in next year’s Tour Salon which will be held from February 12 to 14, 2016 especially since it is expected to draw a bigger crowd because Targi Poznan will also feature the RYBOMANIA Angling Exhibition, KNIEJE Hunting Fair, and the BOATEX Floating Equipment and Water Sports Fair. Fishing, hunting, and sailing are the most popular recreational activities in Poland.
Director Turkiewiz noted that Poles constantly look for new and interesting travel destinations which enhance the Philippines’ prospects as a new destination of choice.
Philippine Ambassador to Poland Patricia Ann V. Paez also met briefly with the Vice President of the Polish Chamber of Tourism Mr. Grzegorz Chmielewski and with Ms. Beata Antos of the Chamber’s Executive Office and informed them of the Embassy’s forthcoming joint Philippine tourism promotion campaign with Qatar Airways. Mr. Chmielewski was with the first-ever delegation of the Polish Chamber of Tourism, led by its president Mr. Pawel Niewiadomski, that visited that Philippines last year.
Tour Salon has been drawing at least 20,000 visitors and divided into market segments, these are: travel agencies-24.4%; tourism organizers - 14.5%; tour operators, tourism intermediaries and agents- 13.8%; tourist facilities-9.2%; training companies and schools-4.7%; public administration-3.8%; carriers-3.2%; and advertising and PR agencies-2.3%.
Now on its 26th year, Tour Salon is also Poland’s largest business-to-business (B2B) meeting place for the tourism/travel industry, a meeting place for domestic and foreign tourism service professionals, and one of the most important tourist events in Central and Eastern Europe. END