Olongapo City—Sensing a tremendous opportunity to boost local tourism in the area, Olongapo city officials, business establishments, and tourism-related agencies are staging a full-on charm offensive to try to lure delegates out of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, where the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress opens today, and into the streets and establishments, even the barangays in the city.  The Ad Con delegates, over 3,000 official attendees in all, plus approximately the same number of their companions, will receive a “red carpet treatment when they step into the streets and business establishments in Olongapo,” according to Olongapo City councilor Gina Gulanes-Perez, also the city’s de facto tourism chief.

“Our hope is that the delegates will find time to check out the many attractions that we have to offer and Olongapo City is known for, most especially the entertainment scene,” she said. “We’ve been preparing for this event for several months now, and we’ve coordinated with Ms. Yolly Ong, extending our invitation to each and everyone of the delegates and their companions to come and visit, and possibly stay, in Olongapo City for the duration of the Ad Con.”

The flurry of preparations, Councilor Perez said, included the tourism seminars centered on the frontliners of every tourism-related business in Olongapo City, like waitresses, front-desk clerks, concierges, etc. The idea was to make sure these frontliners can get training on etiquette and customer relations and integrate their training to the tourism goals of the city. There is also a city wide clean-up drive, participated in by all the 17 barangays in Olongapo, led by its leaders. In addition, city officials have asked the local business community to contribute in the preparations by organizing the city’s signature festival, the Olongapo City Mardi Gras, and encouraging them to go on on a city-wide sale on all goods and services. “We want the delegates to have the best possible time here, and we’re prepared to go to whatever lengths to do that,” Councilor Perez said. “We’ve prepared something for them that they’ll like.”

The allusion is to the Mardi Gras, an annual street festival. Usually held in October, the Olongapo City Mardi Gras has been a permanent fixture in the city’s annual schedule of festivities. In a move signalling the city’s regard for the Ad Con’s importance to the cause of local tourism, this year it was moved to November to coincide with the Ad Congress.

Along the stretch of the city’s main street, Magsaysay Drive—both ends of which will be closed to traffic—there will be stalls for all sorts of vendors, stages for bands and comedic performances, and food courts. Also, the business establishments along Magsaysay Drive will bring out their offerings onto the main street, and a local radio station on the FM Band, DWOK 97.5, will broadcast live in the middle of the festivities, all in an effort to attract Ad Con delegates to sample the city’s delights.

Andy Macgale, station manager of Subic Broadcasting Co., said. “We’ve always been a part of the city’s festivities, but this time it’s a bit different – we really want to make a great impression on these delegates so they’ll enjoy their visit here and tell their friends about Olongapo, and hopefully, trigger an exodus of tourists to this city.”

Though the bulk of Ad Con activities will be held at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC), located inside the Freeport Zone, Olongapo city officials hope that “the Ad Con delegates will check out Olongapo’s offerings in their free time or right after the event,” according to Faye Magrata, who is in charge of the city’s tourism office.

“We’ve even gone to the barangay level, by including all the 17 barangays of Olongapo in our preparations, so that every one in Olongapo can appreciate what this event means for local tourism. We have just finished the city-wide clean up drive, and we have urged them to maintain cleanliness in their areas, so that the delegates will be pleasantly surprised when they come and visit,” said Magrata.

As for the local business community, Olongapo Business Club (OBC) President Sammy del Rosario said that “Everybody should benefit from the influx of tourists in the area, not just the hotels and restaurants inside the Freeport Zone, and so we should show the Ad Con delegates the best of what Olongapo establishments have got to offer, large or small.” He added, “There must be free transportation available for the delegates so that they could go to the other parts of the city, like the Public Market, where they can buy souvenir items. We also hope that they’ll join us for the Mardi Gras.”

Olongapo City—Sensing a tremendous opportunity to boost local tourism in the area, Olongapo city officials, business establishments, and tourism-related agencies are staging a full-on charm offensive to try to lure delegates out of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, where the 20th Philippine Advertising Congress opens today, and into the streets and establishments, even the barangays in the city. 

CEBU CITY—Seven persons were killed, two are missing and five were injured as typhoon Lando battered Central Visayas on Monday.

THE mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos protested on Tuesday the resolution of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) closing its investigation into the enforced disappearance of her son on its claim that she was not cooperating with the probe.

TARGETING to accelerate the implementation of retail competition and open access, the House Committee on Energy approved on Tuesday the proposed amendments to Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira).

SENATE investigators are zeroing in on “confidential” bidding documents submitted by Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Co. Ltd. (ZTE) that some senators believe could prove whether the bribery-tainted $330-million national broadband network (NBN) project was overpriced or not.

THE Army confirmed on Tuesday that former Tuburan town mayor Hajarun Usman Jamiri is in its custody, but initially said his arrest has nothing to do with the bombing of the House of Representatives last week.

DESPITE improvement in the 2007 National Achievement Test (NAT), the Department of Education pledged to implement programs and interventions to elevate further the quality of the instruction of English in all public and private schools.