Guam Wins “More Fun” Award at Philippine Travel Expo

GVB Meets with Airline Partners and U.S. Commercial Service in Manila

(Thursday, February 23, 2012 – Tumon, Guam) The Guam Visitors Bureau led by General Manager Joann Camacho returned recently from promoting Guam as the destination of choice at the 2012 Philippine Travel Agencies Association’s (PTAA) Travel Tour Expo. The largest travel industry event in the Philippines drew an estimated over 80,000 people and the Guam booth was honored as the “Most Fun.” This international award was given on the based on creativity, originality, relevance and consistency with brand character.

Thousands of people visited Guam’s booth and were greeted with that familiar warm Hafa Adai that Guam is known for. Visitors were also met with a Chamorro cultural dance show and weaving demonstrations by Chamorro Dance Group Inetnon Gef Pago led by Mr. Vince Reyes.

“Visitors to our booth enjoyed themselves, many times joining Inetnon Gef Pago in the dances and demonstrations,” General Manager Joann Camacho said. “Mr. Reyes and Inetnon Gef Pago gave them a glimpse of what our island has to offer. Our visitors are looking for that unique experience when they travel and our culture, our identity, who we are as a people is that experience.”

Guam’s booth has been honored each year for the past decade for the Best Performance or the Most Popular Performance at the expo. This year, the PTAA Board decided to award the grand prize of the “Most Fun” category to the Guam booth for its unique concept of engaging visitors and travel industry stakeholders.

While in Manila, GVB also met with airline partners to update them and their travel agent network on the latest Guam product offerings, encouraging them to offer more opportunities for increased travel to Guam. In addition, a high level meeting between GVB and U.S. Commercial Service Attaché in charge of Tourism, Tyrena Holley was held to discuss ways the Embassy can assist in promoting travel to Guam from the Philippines.