Press Release

PHILIPPINES PROMOTES ITS TOURISM INDUSTRY DURING THE 2023 TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE SHOW CHICAGO

Consul General J. Susana V. Paez (right) and Tourism Director Francisco Lardizabal (second from right) pose for a group photo with
Consulate personnel at the Philippine booth during the 2023 Travel and Adventure Show in Rosemont, Illinois.

Chicago, 19 January 2023 – In cooperation with the Philippine Consulate General in Chicago, the Philippine Department of Tourism in New York (PDOT-NY) participated in the 2023 Travel & Adventure Show (TAS) Chicago held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois on 14-15 January 2023. The Philippine booth was located in the Asia-Pacific section, together with Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and Korea, among others. This year, the event organizers were expecting at least 50,000 people to visit the Chicago edition.

As one of the biggest travel and tourism fairs in the US, the Travel & Adventure Show series have been the go-to place for over 2.5 million travelers and over 4,500 top destinations, tour operators, cruise lines, and travel providers from around the world after 18 years of running the show. After Chicago, the TAS will move to other major cities across the US throughout the year, such as New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas.

According to the DOT, the agency targeted 1.7 million international tourist arrivals for CY 2022, but actual count reached 2.6 million (including returning Filipinos and foreign nationals), with the United States as the top tourist market with around 505,000.

For CY 2023, the target is 4.8 million international tourist arrivals, which is still a far cry from the pre-pandemic record of 8.3 million arrivals in 2019. To achieve this year’s target, the Consulate General and PDOT-NY will continue to work together to sustain the country’s tourism promotion activities in the US Midwest.END

Consul General Paez (left) talks to a visitor at the Philippine booth whileTourism Director Lardizabal looks on.