Honest airport cops rewarded with all-expenses paid holiday

The new arrival/departure cards (A/D card) will greatly help in updating a database on incoming and outgoing tourists, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said. Launched recently, the new machine-readable A/D cards would significantly increase the processing for passengers’ travel documents at airports.

Amidst the global challenges, the country expects a robust tourism industry with a growing number of Europe’s biggest tour groups setting their sights on Philippines’ attractions.

Philippines Pasundayag Northern Mindanao 2009 will showcase the Best of Northern Mindanao in Intramuros’ History Town at Clamshell 1, Anda cor. Arzobispo Sts. Intramuros, Manila, taking off on May 29, 2009.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reiterated that on a global scale, the A (H1N1) virus is still on 5th level, with continuous monitoring of all affected countries.

As such, there has been no reported case of A (H1N1) in the Philippines, and is thus declared as an H1N1-free destination. The government is closely screening all inbound travelers in six international airports with thermal scanners to detect body temperatures. Special isolation areas have also been put up in these airports to quarantine travelers exhibiting flu symptoms, especially those coming from places with reported cases of the virus.

A tighter security has also been implemented in entry seaports and other airports servicing chartered flights. The government further required public and private hospitals to be on heightened alert and to monitor and report suspicious cases.

Travel Time features the Meier’s Weltreisen, Europe’s largest long-haul travel operator, and their visit to the country for a tourism convention and exposure trip for 265 of their travel agents. Find out what they love about the country as the Department of Tourism together with the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila and Blue Horizons Travel and Tour take them to the Philippines’ top spots. Follow their journey to the country – from the grand welcome at the National Museum, to the farewell beach party at Shangri-la Boracay Resort and Spa, Boracay’s newest gem. Travel Time is the longest-running travel show in the country hosted by Susan Calo-Medina.

The annual Ambassadors, Consuls General, and Tourism Directors Tour (ACGTDT) set on July 11-17, 2009 is targeting around 500 participants from the United States and Canada.

A joint project of the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Trade and Industry, the ACGTDT aims to promote the Philippines’ top tourism spots to second and third generation Filipino-Americans.

First held in 2005, the ACGTDT is a yearly program that involves highest ranking Philippine officials in the US leading the call for Filipino-Americans and their families to visit their motherland.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) hosted a welcome luncheon to a group of 32 senior Japanese tourists who were in the country recently for a memorial tour of the Philippines.

Organized by the Gunma Philippine Society (GPS), the biennial Memorial Tour of the Philippines aims to promote and enhance peace and understanding between the people of Japan and the Philippines through tourism. The tour brought the Japanese seniors to Corregidor, Angeles, Baguio, Banaue, and Nueva Ecija, where the visitors offered prayers for their family members who were assigned in the Philippines during World War II.

Unfazed by swine flu and the global recession, the country expects a robust tourism industry with a growing number of European unconventional tour groups setting their sights on the ecological attractions of the Philippines.