■ TRAVEL FAIR OPENS AT AYALA CENTER CEBU
With more options available to travelers, the Cebu Travel Catalogue International hopes to attract buyers planning their next vacation
Are travel agencies and travel agents obsolete with travel blogs and sites like Trip Advisor providing free advice online? Not just yet, according to Irene dela Torre, a travel agent at Destination Specialist. “The difference is that we deal directly with the supplier unlike bloggers, they only state based on their experience,” she said. Dela Torre was one of many participants of the Cebu Travel Catalogue International, which opened at the Ayala Center Cebu yesterday. The travel fair features 90 exhibitors from different tourism sectors such as airlines, hotels, resorts and tour operators. It runs until Sunday.
With travel blogs and sites like Trip Advisor giving out free advice online, some young travelers might wonder at the need for travel agencies.
Travel agents shared their thoughts about travel blogs and the challenges they pose to their business.
“The difference is that we deal directly with the supplier unlike bloggers, they only state based on their experience,” Irene Dela Torre, a travel agent from Destination Specialist, shared.
Dela Torre said that they still hold the advantage since travel agencies have direct contacts with the places their customers book.
They counter this challenge with their website, which she believes attract their millennial customers.
Apart from their online approach, she also says that events like the Cebu Travel Catalogue International also generate clients, saying travelers are quick to book at travel fairs to take advantage of special deals.
For Grace Cipriano, manager at AirAsia, it’s a question of credibility. “Bloggers also have their own followers and it depends on their credibility.” She added that to take advantage, travel agencies could also hire or befriend travel bloggers to write for them.
Cipriano adds that travel fairs could also help the market by raising awareness to the public and by promoting new routes for lower fares.
However Ted Castillo, a tourist guide of the Japanese Travel Bureau, sees it differently.
“Bloggers actually help the travel agencies and for us tourist guides as well.” He explained that bloggers introduce travelers to foreign places by featuring the destination in their blogs.
He believes that information shared on blogs open up undiscovered destinations to potential markets.
As for travel fairs, he says such events are inviting to customers, noting that some are intimidated to enter travel agencies.
With cheaper fares and easy payment schemes, it has become easier for most people to travel.
The Cebu Travel Catalogue In- ternational opened yesterday at the Ayala Center Cebu. It features 90 exhibitors from different tourism sectors such as airlines, hotels, resorts and tour operators. It runs until Sunday.
Some of the popular deals include packages for Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand.
Banks also have booths offering special payment packages for travel. There are also raffle prizes for those who book during the fair.
According to the Department of Tourism 7 ( DOT) Director Shalimar Hofer Tamano, who graced the event, the private sector in Cebu is the one of the strongest and most active.
Tamano, who was only recently assigned to Central Visayas, said he has been talking to key players in the region to collaborate with them in future projects.
He also said he is looking forward to the improvements in two airports in the region--Terminal 2 of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport and the Panglao International Airport--which he hopes will address the problem of congestion and would attract even more tourists to the region.