By Gabriela Baron
The Department of Tourism (DOT) said the first Mindanao Tourism Expo held in Davao City was a “success.”
DOT Secretary Christina Frasco said Friday, Jan. 27, that the successful launching of the three-day expo “signals the readiness” of the region to further reopen its doors for international and local travels.
Touted as the largest three-day tourism gathering, the Mindanao Tourism Expo brought in a total of 69 booths with 41 exhibitors from public and private sectors and other tourism-allied services.
“One of my very first remarks when asked about plans for tourism was reopening Mindanao for tourism,” Frasco said in her keynote speech.
“Since then, the effort has not only been to concentrate on what the Department of Tourism has been doing in the past few years but also to expand the reach of the traditional mandate of the Department to look into the necessary pillars of true tourism development and take a long hard and honest look at what needs to be changed and improved on to recover our losses from the pandemic and come back stronger than ever,” Frasco added.
The Tourism secretary also cited Mindanao’s diverse culture and tradition.
“[We] are doing our very best to spread tourism development to the countryside, and that includes initiatives such as this that bring the potential of our cities, municipalities, and provinces of Mindanao to tourism development,” Frasco noted.
“Mindanao is vital and essential in terms of tourism development because it is a hidden gem that has yet to be fully discovered and developed,” she added.
The Expo ran from Jan. 27 to 29 at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang, Davao City.
