14 April 2016 - On its 8th year, the Philippines is participating in the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016 which opened yesterday, 12 April 2016 and will end on April 15. The event is held at the Prince Sultan Grand Hall in, Al Faisaliyah Tower Hotel, King Fahad Road, Riyadh.
This is the 4th straight year that the Philippines is participating in this travel and tourism event which aims to promote investment, development and sustainability of the travel and tourism sector in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia. The Philippines booth was one of the biggest booths in the event.
The Philippine delegation to the travel fair, led by Assistant Secretary Arturo Boncato, Jr., together with Mr. Glen Raymund Agustin and Mr. Stalingrad F. Samson from the Department of Tourism, arrived in Riyadh on April 11 to support the event. They were also joined by representatives from AVIAREPS, Philippine tourism marketing office based in Dubai, representatives from Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific and from Emirates Airways.
Part of the delegation’s itinerary is to meet with different travel agents in Riyadh to re-launch the “Kids Go Free” and “Visit the Philippines Year” campaign programs. Assistant Secretary Boncato also talked about the recent launching of the “Halal Tourism” Program of the Department of Tourism, which aims to increase the number of accredited halal-certified kitchens of hotels and restaurants in the Philippines.
In 2015, DOT recorded a total of 50,884 tourist arrivals from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to the Philippines. This figure shows a 17.02% increase as compared to the 43,483 tourist arrivals recorded in 2014. The KSA has the highest number of visitors from the Middle East to the Philippines since 2009, and this number consistently increases each year.
The Filipino community in Riyadh is encouraged to visit the Philippine booth at the Riyadh Travel Fair 2016, which runs until Friday, April 15 from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. END