We caught up with some cosplayers promoting the Visit Japan booth at the PTAA Travel Tour Expo 2015 last weekend at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia. Cosplay figures prominently in modern Japanese culture and our cosplayer friends have been selected to help extend Japan’s invitation to visit their country.
On its 22nd year of being the premier travel fair in the country, the Travel Tour Expo was conceptualized by PTAA or the Philippine Travel Agencies Association in 1994 to showcase the many and varied products and services of its members. Since then, the show has evolved into a much-waited annual industry event covering practically all segments of the travel business, making it the biggest event for travel and tourism industry.
As the biggest travel and tours event in the country, the PTAA Travel Tour Expo 2015 occupied all four halls of the ground floor and five function rooms on the second floor. It took me quite a while to complete my journey to cover as many of the 700 interesting exhibition booths there. Probably the most numerous would be the travel agencies and tour operators who were offering packages at really low prices. Then there were the airline companies who also offered prospective customers discounted and really low rates on selected flights. Hotels and resorts likewise attract customers with affordable or discounted accommodations. A curious attraction was the medical tourism promoters, specially those from Korea, who promote the idea of visiting their country to have medical procedures and surgery done.
To keep things fun and lively inside the halls, exhibitors put on a variety of attractions, like cultural presentations, product demos, contests, photobooths, giveaways, and a whole lot more.
I got to enjoy the Visit Japan booth as they had a lot of interesting attractions going on at any given time. They had quiz games like the Japan Yes or No where participants get to know more Japan.
They also gave out some authentic Japanese sweets from Osaka after their presentation.
There was also the Learn Nihongo booth where you can have your name written in Japanese for free on a really nice postcard. We had ours done by a pretty Japanese lady named Mina. We requested her autograph to remember her by.
And of course, there were our cosplayer friends who helped promote Visit Japan as they posed with attendees who couldn’t resist taking photos of them and with them. And during free time, they also enjoy taking photos with each other as well.
Not really a cosplay event, but we all enjoyed it just the same. I was particularly partial to the Visit Japan booth because of their many fun attractions, giveaways, and of course, the cosplayers. Hope we’ll get to see them again next year.
After the event we all took time off to enjoy the fireworks display at the 6th Philippine Pyrolympics at the Mall of Asia Bayside to cap off a busy but enjoyable day.
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