SEOUL, 27 October 2014 – Popular resort Plantation Bay treated Korean media and travel industry representatives to a themed dinner event in central Seoul on Thursday, 23 October 2014 to showcase the Philippines as an attractive travel destination for Korean tourists, the Philippine Embassy reported to the Department.

In his welcome remarks, Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul S. Hernandez invited the guests to the Viva! Plantation Bay 2014 event held at the Nine Tree Convention Center to visit the Philippines and Cebu, one of the most popular destinations among Koreans visiting the country.

Ambassador Hernandez highlighted that the Philippines was awarded as the Destination of the Year at the 25th Annual TTG Travel Awards held in Bangkok on 2 October 2014 in recognition of the Philippine government’s proactive steps and initiatives to develop and promote the domestic travel industry.

He also commended the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, represented by Efren Belarmino, Vice President for Marketing, for organizing the event as this is in line with the Philippine Department of Tourism’s (DOT) launch of the “Visit the Philippines Year 2015” campaign.

The event in Seoul was the second held by Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Korea in 2014, following a similar gala dinner held on Monday, 21 October 2014 at Paradise Hotel in Busan. A total of 200 travel agents attended the two events. It plans to continue holding the themed dinners every two years since it held the first in 2012.

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, which is located in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, not far from Cebu’s gateway, the Mactan International Airport, is one of the most popular resorts for Korean tourists.

Korea remains to be the top source of foreign visitors to the Philippines. In 2013, the number of Koreans visiting the Philippines totalled 1.17 million or a quarter of all tourist arrivals. Of this total, 400,000 visited Cebu. For the first eight months of 2014, 783,852 Korean tourists have visited the Philippines or 24 percent of total inbound traffic.