City to generate P17M income from BIMP gab

WITH average spending of some P4,000 per day, visitors and participants to the 2nd Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines - East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) and Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand - Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Trade Fair and Business Leaders’ Conference are expected to contribute at least P17 million to the local economy.

The conference opens on Thursday and will run until October 26, 2014.

“For a conservative estimate of 500 guests at P4,000 per day of average tourism expenses... you will be at [roughly around] P17 million for the income of the city,” Usec. Janet M. Lopoz, Mindanao Development Authority executive director, said in yesterday’s edition of the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City Davao.

Lopoz pointed out that this is just a conservative estimate since this is based on the 500 pre-registered delegates for the four day event. They are expecting this to double or even go higher since as of this week there are already some 1,000 delegates who are already pre-registered.

Lopoz said delegates to the conference have started to arrive yesterday.

“For now we have a pre-registered number of delegates of about a thousand already, that’s just those who have registered online. We are expecting a lot more walk-ins coming in... during the [event],” she said.

Meanwhile, Lopoz also said they are all set for the staging of the largest busi- ness event in the city.

She said they are expecting around 600 to 700 delegates to attend the Business Leaders’ Conference on Thursday. For the Trade Fair, nearly 250 companies will be exhibiting. She said there are 20 coming from Brunei Darussalam, 50 each from Malaysia and Indonesia, 112 from the Philippines, and 10 from Thailand.

Mindanao Business Council president Vicente Lao said the four-day event will serve as venue for private companies in the

BIMP-Eaga and IMT-GT to strengthen and gear themselves in light of the Asean Economic Convergence next year.

He urged the business sector and the small medium enterprises to take advantage of the four day event to showcase their strengths and competitiveness.

Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Sr. Supt. Vicente D. Danao Jr. said they are on full red alert. He said they have beefed up the security throughout the city from increasing the number of security personnel to intensifying the check points.