MANILA, MARCH 15, 2013 – The Philippines was recognized as the most popular destination by the Guangzhou Information Times and the Guangzhou International Tourism Fair (GITF) in two separate award ceremonies on March 7, 2013.
The Guangzhou Information Times, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Daily, awarded the Philippines “Most Popular Destination of Asia”. The award was given by Guangzhou Information Times vice president Li Xinzhang to Philippine Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz and Consul General to Guangzhou Raly Tejada during the awards night, held in Nanhu Travel Display Center.
Meanwhile, the GITF, an annual international travel fair, has also recognized the Philippines as the “Most Popular Destination”, making the country the lone recipient from Southeast Asia. The fair was held on March 7-9, 2013.
The fair also recognized other countries for the title: (United Arab Emirates), Chicago (United States), Korea, Seychelles, Mauritius, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Macau and Italy.
The awards are backed by numbers from the Philippine Consulate general in Guangzhou which recorded a total of 59,861 issued visas to Southern Chinese visitors to the Philippines in 2012. The country’s strong appeal may have been helped by the internationally-renowned ‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ campaign which was kickstarted by the Department of Tourism and conceptualized by creative agency BBDO Guerrero.
