Saturday, February 6, 2016

Davao Promises to Make this year to be More Fun with Bigger Deals and Adventures


In the continuous efforts to entice more tourists to not just visit but to fully experience Davao, the Department of Tourism - Davao Regional Office (DOT-XI) on Friday launched 3 key tourism programs for 2016 namely, ‘Visit Davao Fun Sale 2016’, ‘Let’s Meet in Davao: MICE Davao Program’, and the ‘9th Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge’, aiming to position the region as a premier destination in the country.

Bigger deals, adventure and fun packages await tourists, adventure seekers and delegates to Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) who will make Davao as their venue and destination of choice this year.


According to Director Alabado, these 3 institutional tourism programs of the region will help set Davao as the ‘islands to highlands’ destination for adventure, beach holiday, food and culture, shopping and as a premier MICE destination.

Some of the key points in Director Alabado's presentation as to what tourists could expect in Davao are ecotourism, eco-adventure, malls, SMX, islands, nature tourism, cultural tourism and health and wellness.


VISIT DAVAO FUN SALE 2016

The Visit Davao Fun Sale is a city-wide sale and events extravaganza in Davao that features discounts and promos in all sectors of tourism from tours, accommodation, shopping, dining, relaxation and adventure. It is the first of its kind in the country where it involves several industries to make the experience of the tourists complete and the branding of the city unified.

For 2016, DOT-XI, together with VDFS Execom composed of representatives of key tourism players led by Mr. Benjie Lizada of the Restaurant Owners Association of Davao City (ROADC), has eyed expansion of the tourism sale program, tapping LGU of Sta. Cruz for the promotion of Mt. Apo adventure and Island Garden City of Samal for its beach holiday destinations.

Scheduled on 25 March to 31 May, VDFS 2016 will have three themes to categorize its various activities. The Adventure and Sports theme will feature Samal Half Marathon, DurianMan Triathlon and the Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge. The Culture and Arts Theme, meanwhile, will feature Davao Art exhibitions by various artist groups from the Davao Region, Cultural and Tribal Dances which will bring performances and the Davao Grand Indie Film Festival, which is a season-long showcase of award-winning Mindanao-produced indie films. The Party, Fun and Leisure will feature EDM events and the Pub Crawl which is aimed to steer Davao night life.

As a frontline offering, VDFS 2016 will feature ten discounted tour packages to include adventure and cultural tour packages from the regions islands (Samal and Talikud) to highland (Mt. Apo and Marilog Agri-farm) destinations. 

Such packages can be enjoyed on 25 March to 31 May, VDFS 2016 will have three themes to categorize its various activities. The Adventure and Sports theme will feature Samal Half Marathon, DurianMan Triathlon and the Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge. The Culture and Arts Theme, meanwhile, will feature Davao Art exhibitions by various artist groups from the Davao Region, Cultural and Tribal Dances which will bring performances and the Davao Grand Indie Film Festival, which is a season-long showcase of award-winning Mindanao-produced indie films. The Party, Fun and Leisure will feature EDM events, Pub Crawl which is aimed to steer Davao night life and food crawl to give light to the diversified culinary splendor Davao has.

As a frontline offering, VDFS 2016 will feature ten discounted tour packages to include adventure and cultural tour packages from the regions islands (Samal and Talikud) to highland (Mt. Apo and Marilog Agri-farm) destinations.   Do visit here for the list of the packages.

Consequently, a MOA signing was made between DOT, Davao SMX Convention Center and Air Asia Philippines.

AirAsia Commercial Head Gerard Penaflor, VDFS ExecomVice-chair Fides Castaneda-Bernabe, and DOT Region XI Director Roberto Alabado, III during the sponsorship agreement signing between VDFS and AirAsia

9th MT. APO BOULDER FACE CHALLENGE 2016. 

The most extreme 24-hour race to Mt. Apo’s Peak and back is set on 23-24 April. This year’s race covers only three (3) disciplines, namely Water Tubing (5 KM), Mountain Biking (36.6 KM) and Trail Running (53.5 KM).  Previous races involved mountain biking, trekking, water tubing and road running.

There will also be some modifications for this year’s race categories. The Open Elite Category, which is composed of two racers and 1 logistics, is changed to Individual Open Elite (one logistic crew is considered per participant). The relay categories, All-Male Relay and All-Women Relay, will have the same number of players in a team, which are three with one racer to perform each discipline.

This yearly adventure race, which also aims to raise tourism activities and awareness to protect the country’s highest peak, is now included in the VDFS 2016 campaign umbrella to boost tourist arrivals in the summer season.

Representatives from Air Asia Philippines, DOT Region XI Director Roberto Alabado III,
MICE Davao Execom Chair Kennedy Kapulong, SMX Davao/MICE Davao Execom Vice-chair
Daphe Jezelle Alojado, and reps from Cebu Pacific

Let’s Meet in Davao: MICE Davao Program

Continuing Davao City’s momentum being an emerging top MICE destination, the Department of Tourism-XI with MICE Davao Execom continues to conduct roadshows and close deals with MICE organizers and service providers, including the national airline companies, in bringing the most competitive support incentives for organizers who want to hold their conferences and events in Davao City.

Moreover, as a new MICE product, DOT-XI and MICE Davao Execom are also brewing Incentive Travel Packages for organizers and companies featuring high-end resorts based in Samal. With the help of the Local Government Support Program under the Local Economic Development (LGSP-LED) supported by the Government of Canada, several validation activities are ongoing in Samal and Talikud to come up with competitive offerings for the Incentive travel market.

To add to the new partners of the MICE players of Davao composed of hotels, convention facilities, land transport, spas, malls and tour operators, Cebu Pacific and Air Asia Philippines have joined the ranks in making Davao as the premier MICE destination. Giving MICE airfare rates with discounts as way of promoting the Davao connections thus encouraging more MICE participants flying to Davao. The two airlines will also co-brand with “Let’s meet in Davao program”  by promoting the incentive program in its own website and will conduct roadshows with the Davao MICE Execom.

“Several roadshows has been lined up this year among organizations, companies and associations to promote our MICE program,” revealed by Mr. Ken Kapulong, MICE Execom Chair.

All the programs are in partnership with the local governments of Davao, Samal and the provincial tourism offices concerned.

For more details of the Visit Davao Fun Sale 2016, check out www.visitdavaofunsale.com or vdfs.discoverdavao.com. For Davao MICE inquiries, please visit www.micedavao.com.  DOT Region XI can be reached by e-mail at dotrdavao@gmail.com.  


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