The 11th Worldmaster International Travel Mart (2nd Leg) in Quezon City

 

We just had the pleasure of covering the Worldmaster International Travel Mart 2023 which is currently celebrating their 11th year. It's a business to business forum for international and domestic travel professionals wherein they can connect with legitimate travel agencies in the Philippines. The Philippines is currently in a revenge travel state and the inamiable thirst to see more places around the world and in the country has been much higher than anticipated. This has been heavily supported not just by different travel organizations, but by the Department of Tourism and the local government of Quezon City which this was also held. This is the second leg after doing it in Clark Pampanga last May 8th which was highly successful and it will also happen tomorrow May 12th at the Dusit Thani Residence in Davao City.

As you can see much of the international sellers include those companies that offer trips to the Holy Land (Jordan, Israel, Egypt), plus destinations like Taiwan, China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and a surprise was the scenic route to Russia among others. Aside from the international destinations, the Philippines had offers to Bohol, El Nido + Coron in Palawan, Boracay, Cebu, Southern Tagalog, the Visayas Region and Mindanao. This is a place where legitimate agencies would be able to work out arrangements from companies so the travel agencies would be able to offer them to travelers like us!

 We were also able to talk to Mr. Noi Alunan of Great Getaways (a travel agency who participated in this year's WITM B2B meetings) where he lauded WITM and how it has benefited the company he represents and the entire travel industry in the Philippines.

The Worldmaster International Travel Mart has been founded by Dr. Leilani Agana and has benefited businesses around the world and the local tourism industry. Dr. Agana was there personally meeting the companies, business owners and travel agency representatives and held a talk about the tourism industry. Representatives from the Department of Tourism and several travel groups also asked questions in a short Q and A to give us a glimpse of the future of travel in the Philippines and how Filipinos could take advantage of the various tours they offer. Part of the questions I asked about the Holy Land tours were graciously answered by Sir Noi, which means there will be more taking interest in doing their own revenge travels very soon. They also emphasize the importance of only doing reservations and arrangements with reputable businesses so they don't get scammed online.

WITM will continue with their Davao leg tomorrow and perhaps, a 12th Worldmaster International Travel Mart next year won't be too far. If you are interested, please check out their Facebook page as updates have been regularly posted there.

Can't wait to see more of the world after this! Congratulations to the men and women behind this event and to Dr. Agana who has been working so hard to make this all possible!

 

TaskUs Holds Job Fair in Bohol

After letting us experience this about two years ago, the good people at TaskUs continued to spread their Ridiculously Good Culture, this time to the heart of Philippine islands called Bohol. It's capital Tagbilaran was the venue for the Grand Career Fair held at Metro Centre Hotel.

This is what TaskUs meant as "going where the talent is" as their company continues to grow despite global challenges caused by the pandemic. This was attended and supported by different Bohol educational institutiions, local government and non profit organizations, plus other training institutes aimed to employ talented Bol-anons this side of the world. Ms. Regina Aguila says "We have a different work culture at TaskUs and provide very competitive health coverage, wellness programs (free), career advancement opportunities. We call them teammates, and have always known how it positively impacts their work. This goes the same with the service they render for customers and the community."

TaskUs started in the developing city in 2019 and has made Lizzy's Playground an iconic workplace to be in this region. This is part of their "Work Hard, Have Fun" mantra that makes working in the company even more exciting. If you missed their job fair, fret not as you can show your intentions to join them via their website TaskUs.com/careers or their recruitment hubs.

Fun Finds at Estancia Summer Toy Fest!

When I found out that a toy fair was happening at Estancia Mall in Capitol Commons, I took the road less traveled and tagged along my blogger friends too. I'm up for nostalgia so when I heard they were having some items from my generations sold, I took the chance and found some good deals this side of town.

There were probably a little over thirty merchants and collectors who joined the Summer Toy Fest, they were laid out on the bridge way of the mall and occupied one space on the left side for a full Tamiya Race Track where competitions were held.

This wasn't a small production because they also had Iron Man and Thanos appear for mall goers. They had 50% of the mall audience taking selfies for posterity. Maybe they'll live to see it on social media. Kids had so much fun!

I had a few things in my mind, Dragon Ball Z memorabilia was abound and the Goku, Klilyn and Vegetta Lego pieces were so awesome to see!

Lest we forget the one who started it all, Master Roshi taught Goku and Kililyn martial arts, but had them work for it when they were kids. Naughty but he did good in the recent inter universe tournament eh?

Ms. Kris Aquino should have attended the event because she'll love the Carebear stuff being sold for cheap in one or two stalls.

They also had something good for Hotweels collectors, huge trucks which are not so commonly sold in malls these days.

When I saw this rack in one of the stalls, I knew I had to have em all! Well I could see some MegaMan, Super Mario, Digdug keychains that only cost 50 pesos each, got them and put it on my bag so it wouldn't look boring. It did the job, you'll see later!

Since it is Avengers season, it's the right time to buy DC toys because they will be relatively cheaper, I was looking for unique Batman toys too but most of it was already in my boxes at home. They have the whole Justice League for 500 though. Good deal for collectors.

Nostalgia was provided by Plastic Man, if you don't know what that cartoon is, ask your older parents or friends, they are going to tell you how popular these were in the 80's.

One of my favorite things to see was Slimer, made of retromutagen ooze, he still eats a lot in Ghostbuster movies.

If you're not fond of heroes, you can get Joker or Penguin. Don't worry if they provide nightmares because Batman will surely save you!

I went home with a pretty good set of keychains on my back, too bad not a lot of folks know who or what these characters represent, because if you were a gamer during my time (I felt old saying that lol) you'll love how cute these things are now while hanging on my boring black leather backpack.

Make sure you check out events in Ortigas and Co. malls like Estancia, Robinson's, or Greenhills because as soon as they put out their toys for sale, you're sure to get some pretty good bargains. 

Just look at my haul, you can't find much of that in commercialized events these days! Thanks to Estancia Mall and to the people behind this event, I got my stuff easy!