Ms. Michelle M. Jayag, Cultural Officer (1st from left), Chargé d’ affaires, a.i. Evelyn D. Austria-Garcia (2nd from left), Mr. Richard Oliveira of Quadrante Viagens (3rd from left), and Consul-General Gines Jaime Ricardo D. Gallaga of the Embassy of the Philippines in Lisbon (4th from left), in front of the Philippine booth of BTL 2017.
The Philippine Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal regularly participates in Portugal´s biggest annual tourism fair, Bolsa de Turismo de Lisboa (BTL) as part of its tourism promotion efforts. For this year, BTL 2017 was held from 15 to 19 March 2017 at the Feira Industrial de Lisboa located in Parque das Naçoes in Lisbon.
The annual fair was participated in by Portugal´s national and regional tourism boards, airline companies, hotels and resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, Embassies and other members of the tourism industry. This year’s edition saw more than 75,000 visitors and 400 foreign tour operators from around 36 countries participating in this prestigious international tourism fair.
This is the fourth year in which the Philippine Embassy in Lisbon participated in this event in collaboration with Portuguese tour operator Quadrante Viagens. The Philippines has been slowly gaining inroads into the Portuguese market as a holiday destination as manifested by increasing rates of tourist arrivals from Portugal every year. According to data from the Philippine Department of Tourism tourist arrivals from Portugal increased when compared to the previous year’s figures by 14.88% in 2014, 22.62% in 2015, and by 35.95% in 2016.
Together with its partner Quadrante Viagens, the Embassy continues aggressively to highlight the country’s rich Catholic tradition, shared Latin socio-cultural heritage, beautiful beaches and warm hospitality in its promotion efforts. The growing number of Portuguese tourists arriving yearly in the Philippines shows that there is a growing awareness in the local market of the Philippines as a preferred tourist and holiday destination in Southeast Asia.
The Embassy plans to complement its promotion efforts in BTL by conducting the third edition of its Philippine tourism seminar for Portuguese travel agencies and tour operators later this year. END.
Former Mayor of Sabrosa, Dr. Jose Manuel de Carvalho Marques, who now sits as Chairperson of the Mission Structure for the Commemoration of the 500-year anniversary of the circumnavigation of the world by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, shows photos of his most recent visit to Cebu City to a local travel agent.
