Davao Fun Sale involves all tourism stakeholders
March 18, 2015 at 08:40am
Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) officer-in-charge Lisette Marques, who guested on Thursday's edition of I-speak at the Davao City Hall, said that as compared to the Big Davao Fun Sale (BDFS) in 2014, where only the city malls had a large participation and was focused mainly on shopping, the VDFS 2015 now involves the active participation of other tourism players like the travel and tour agencies, hotels and resorts, restaurants, health and wellness establishments, and the Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) sector.
The VDFS is the country's first city-wide and month long sale slated on April 3 to March 17.
Marques said the VDFS Tours Consortium, which is comprised of tour operators in Davao City, will be running the Fun Tours and Fun Packages, which can be booked through the vdfs.discoverdavao.com.
The Fun Tours are available for as low as P600 per head while the Fun Packages are available for for as low as P2,613. The tour packages involves city and adventure tours.
She said participating restaurants will also be offering promos and discounts like a 20 percent discount on one product per day.
A total of 106 restaurants are participating in this year's VDFS, wherein they are grouped into 12 clusters are Matina Town Square, Damosa Gateway, Phoenix Mega Station, The Peak of GMall of Davao, Lanang Business Park, Bricklane and Obrero, Victoria Plaza Carpark, Rizal Street, Torres Street, Roxas Street (with Aldevinco Souvenir Center), Eden Nature Park area, and Calinan area (Malagos Mountain Resort and Philippine Eagle Center).
Member spa and massage centers of the Davao Wellness Association will be offering discounts and promos to tourists and Dabawenyos during the VDFs.
Shoppers and tourists can avail themselves of the discounts or promos from restaurants and spa and massage centers by presenting their VDFS passport, which is given for free at the airport, partner hotels, and designated booths in participating malls. A smart and android phone application of the passport can also be downloaded.
For the shopping aspect of the VDFS, 11 shopping malls or centers based in the city will be participating in the fun sale, including SM Malls, Abreeza Ayala Mall, Gaisano Mall of Davao, Gaisano Mall of Toril, NCCC Mall, S & R, Robinsons Abreeza, SM City Davao, SM Lanang Premiere, and Victoria Plaza Mall.
Earlier, VDFS execom president Tjader P. Regis said each mall and center will be having their own promos and discounts but shoppers can expect a discount of 40 percent to 70 percent off on selected items.
The month-long VDFS is seen to give the tourism sector in the city a boost as Department of Tourism (DOT) regional director Roberto Alabado III expressed optimism that they will be able to increase the tourism arrivals in the city with the staging of the event.
He said based on their hotel occupancy report, tourist arrivals from March to April in 2014, when the BDFS was staged, increased to 195,713 as compared to the 190,334 during the same period in 2013. They are hoping to double the 5,000 who came last year with the VDFS this year.
VDFS is a collaborative effort between the City Government of Davao Tourism Office, Office of Councilor Al Ryan Alejandre, Department of Tourism, and the tourism sector stakeholders, which are the travel and tour agencies, hotels and resorts, restaurants and entertainment groups, malls and shopping centers, Mice (meeting, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) Organizers Ventures (Move) Davao, and the Davao Wellness Association (DavWell).
Source: sunstar.com.ph
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