North Luzon travel expo launched to spur tourism recovery

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Tourism (DOT) in the North on Saturday morning launched the second travel exhibition in an attempt to ensure the further recovery of the tourism industry in the northern provinces.

The DOT Regional Office I, II and III and the Cordillera Administrative Region kicked off the 2nd North Luzon Travel Expo (NLTE) at the Grand Sierra Pines Hotel, North Outlook Drive, in Baguio City which will be held from the 25th to the 27th of November 2023. The event is hosted by DOT-Cordillera.

The first NLT Fair was launched at the SMX Convention Center Clark, Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga.

The DOT-CAR aligned the activities with the Tourism and Travel Fair as the main function. This will be held at the CAP Convention Center in Camp John Hay, Baguio City. Other activities include a music show with local artists from the four regions; art in the park at Reflection Pool of Wright Park, Baguio City; Business to business networking activity at La Fayette Hotel, Baguio City.

There will also be product presentations at the CAP Convention Center as well as a familiarization tour or Northern Luzon Interregional Circuit which will be a post-tour where key destinations in Baguio City and Benguet in the Cordillera and Naguillan, San Fernando City, Bauang, San Juan and Luna in La Union in Region 1 will be visited.

On November 26, a “Hibla ng Lahing Pilipino Fashion Oarade will be staged at the Manor Garden, Camp John Hay. This will showcase regal fabrics from Northern Luzon to recognize Filipino indigenous textile weavers.

According to the head of DOT Cordillera, Jovy Ganongan, in addition to supporting the tourism players of Northern Luzon in the continuous revival of the local tourism industry, the activity is also focused on “creating a synergy to develop a chain of robust tourism value by converging existing and new domestic tourism products.”, destinations, and services of the Northern Luzon regions to local and international markets. She also said that this is also to strengthen the relationship of the Northern Luzon regions with their tourism stakeholders.

Enrique Esguerra of the Alliance of Travel and Tours Management in the Cordilleras (ATTIC) stressed that the event that shows the attractions of each region and is never a competition but more a collaboration. He said that each of the regions shows its own creativity in the promotion of its tourist products.