CLARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – The first-ever official delegation of the Polish Chamber of Tourism as well as officials of six polish travel agencies arrived here at 9:20 a.m. Friday on board Qatar Airways Flight No. QA930.
Philippine Ambassador to Poland Patricia Ann V. Paez and Clark International Airport Corp. (CIA) President- CEO Victor Jose “Chichos” I. Luciano as well as Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Director Ronnie Tiotuico welcomed the Polish delegation led by its president Pawel Niewiadomski and vice-president Grzegorz Chmielewski.
The Polish delegation is coming for a fiveday “familiarization tour” of the Philippines. Krzysztof Steiman, account manager of Qatar Airways in Warsaw, Poland is also a member of the delegation. Upon his arrival, Niewiadomski said this is his first time to visit the Philippines and he is impressed by the warm reception and hospitality of the Filipinos.
“This is the first ever visit to your country, we are looking at the possibilities of establishing a linkage in the promotion of tourism in Poland and Philippines,” he said.
The other members of the Polish delegation are Krzysztof Goralczyk, president of Sports Tourists; Marcin Sado, director of Opal Travel; Anna Agnieszka Piotrowska, director of Top Travel; Anna Turak-Supinska, director of ATP Activity Ltd., and Martyna Harland, business development manager of Olimp Air.
For her part, Paez said this is the first time that the Polish Chamber of Tourism visited the country since the opening of the Philippine Embassy in Poland in 2009. “This is an opportunity for the Philippines to promote our tourism as well as Filipinos visiting Poland,” she said.
Paez also said Qatar Airways has established a direct flight to Warsaw in Manila that will also attract more tourists to visit the country, adding that tourism arrivals in Poland had doubled for the past five years.
The Polish delegation will visit Vigan, one of the Philippines’ World Heritage Sites as well as Boracay and will also go on a city tour of Manila.
A business-to-business meeting (B2B) between the members of the Polish delegation and representatives of Philippine travel agencies will be held on March 18 to establish partnerships towards the promotion of the Philippines as a travel destination for tourists from Poland.
The familiarization tour is a collaboration of the Embassy of the Philippines in Warsaw, the Department of Tourism specifically Undersecretary Danny Corpuz, Assistant Secretary Benito Bengzon, Tourism Attaché Venus Tan, Lenee Berringer, and Marites Ballester; the Tourism Promotions Board particularly Undersecretary Chicoy Enerio and Director Susan del Mundo; the Department of Foreign Affairs specifically Undersecretary Laura del Rosario; and Qatar Airways-Poland as the partner airline.
