Anton Sheker for the 19th Philippine Travel Mart Photo Exhibit

Anton Sheker one of the featured Travel Photographers in the upcoming 19th Philippine Travel Mart Photo Exhibit.

Anton Sheker is obsessed with the Philippines’ numerous festivals—from the most elaborate and popular to the most obscure. His works, which traverse a wide spectrum that includes interiors, food, art, people and scenic landscapes, have seen print here and abroad, including Mabuhay magazine and Islands, a Florida-based magazine that specializes in features of idyllic islands. He is currently working on a personal project, now on its fifth year in the making: a book-form documentation of the most storied Filipino fiestas.

“Iloilo Paraw Regatta ‘08”

Sail Season

Anton Sheker captured the assiduous last-minute preparations before the kickoff of Ilo-ilo festival’s main event, the Regatta. Held every second Sunday of March, the festival is a floating extravaganza of colorful, hand-painted sails and locally crafted paraw, the local outrigger.

“Dinagyang”

High Spirits

Sheker is particularly drawn to the almost electric and unique energy that each festival generates, or what results from a potent mix of the vibrant costumes, the choreography, the spectators, and the history of the festival. At the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo, held every fourth Sunday of January, the atmosphere reaches fever pitch with the chanting of “Hala Bira!”

19th Annual Philippine Travel Mart is gearing up to showcase the country’s wild side

Same Place, A Whole New Adventurous Attitude

The much-anticipated 19th Annual Philippine Travel Mart is gearing up to showcase the country’s wild side.

With the theme “Triple X: Xtreme Adventure, Xtreme Wellness and Xtreme Leisure in the Philippines, ” the travel fair will run from September 12 to 14 at SM Megamall’s Mega Trade Hall. It will feature packages that highlight a different kind of Philippines to take you away from the beachside lounge chair and off to the rush of your life—on the surf, on a raft, on a sail, on a hanging bridge, or off to the jungles in search for some of the world’s rarest birds.

Organized by the Philippine Tour Operations Association in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, the yearly three-day Travel Mart is the country’s largest travel fair and features showcase pavilions of the regional tourism offices, tour operators, hotels, airlines and transport services, plus other usual stakeholders of the local travel industry.

“We wanted to present the Philippines as an adventure destination,” says Cesar Cruz, chairman of the 19th Philippine Travel Mart organizing committee, explaining the group’s desire to throw the spotlight on new activities in favorite and familiar destinations, as well as new and exciting travel terrain: off-the-beaten-track high adventure spots.

This year’s theme coincides with the Department of Tourism’s new focus on adventure travel, and both highlight the travel public’s growing taste for extreme rush and recreation.

Designed to spur local tourism and to draw foreign tourist traffic into our shores, this year’s Philippine Travel Mart will feature a heady buffet of adventure travel packages to choose from, covering a wide spectrum of intensity—from bird-watching in Cebu, spelunking in Boracay, ocean kayaking in Bohol or volcano-crater kayaking in Mount Pinatubo, to jungle trekking and treetop canopy walking in Subic, paddling and surfing in La Union, river-tubing in Kidapawan, and rafting and rappelling in Cagayan de Oro, among a host of numerous adrenaline-pumping travel options.

For those who are keen on all-out relaxation, the Xtreme Leisure packages of beach and mountain holidays are also available. And those searching for the rejuvenating high of wellness spas and other healing destinations can likewise have their pick of just the right kind of package that suits their vacation needs.

Adventure travel, explains Cruz, encompasses the principles that responsible travel embraces: apart from the physical aspect, adventure travel also promotes encounter with nature and ecotourism, as well as cultural involvement in terms of interaction with the local communities.

The Travel Mart is also known for discounted airline ticket and travel package rates exclusive to the three-day event. Last year’s biggest draw was the Sale ng Bayan, which sold one-way airline tickets for 18 pesos as a nod to the Travel Mart’s 18th year. This year, you can design your own travel and adventure trip beginning with a 19-peso Sale ng Bayan airline ticket or an exciting offer of Buy One, Take Ten. Nowhere else will you find deals as irresistible as these!

On its 19th year, the Philippine Travel Mart continues to help boost the tourism sector and shape local travel habits. “Many years ago, the Filipino traveler would only go to places where he or she has family, or knows someone who can be a host or a tour guide,” says Cruz. “But now, the tour packages at the Travel Mart have made it possible for us to go everywhere, even to places where we don’t know anyone.”

Throwing full support behind the Travel Mart, as it always has, is the Department of Tourism (DOT). Department Secretary Ace Durano underscores the importance of the travel fair when he says, “We know that there is a diverse in experiences here, diverse in attractions; unfortunately it’s only a limited number of these experiences and attractions are actually packaged. So unless it is packaged and sold, usually 99% of the tourists cannot experience it…that’s why it’s very important that we continue to package new products, new attractions, and new experiences.”

Among the latest and best on offer is bird-watching, which the Secretary himself has taken to. “I can say that it’s as competitive as our underwater world,” Sec. Durano explains. Considered the best in marine biodiversity in the world, our aerial and terrestrial territories are getting a nod as well for having the highest concentration of endemic bird species. This is something that the DOT and PhilTOA have advantage of, and now, travel packages are available for wild bird watching in their natural habitat.

Sounds like fun? Enjoy a preview of the Philippines’ wild, adventure-filled side.

For a peek into what’s coming in the travel fair, the 19th Philippine Travel Mart has collected the works of six photographers for a visual tour of the country’s adventure-filled escape.

Dubbed “The Philippines Like You’ve Never Seen It Before”, the exhibit captures the lesser-known side of our idyllic countryside: the beautiful and rugged terrain, the raw power of nature, wildlife going even wilder, and the energy of the people.

The exhibit, to be launched on July 30, 2008 at the Travel Café in Greenbelt 5, features the works of Bahaghari, Levi Nahayangan, Romy Ocon, Ivan Sarenas, Nicky Sering, and Anton Sheker.

The 19th Philippine Travel Mart is co-presented by the Department of Tourism, the Philippine Tourism Authority, the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation, sponsored by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, PAGCOR, Philippine Airlines, Hewlett Packard, Kodak Philippines and in participation with Air Philippines, Blue Water Day Spa, AIM Conference Center, ROX, Next Mobile, Chase Technology and Microdata.

For more information on the 19th Philippine Travel Mart, please call the Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) at 812-4513 and Global Visions at 635-0350