@MeetManila Launch Party: A Tertulia Night for #ThoughtfulTourism

I marked 2012 as the year of Philippine travel to new places because there is much to explore in our beautiful country. My bucket list of places to see in the Philippines is higher priority than overseas travel. So far , I travelled to three new places that I have never been to: Batanes, Naga City and Davao City. Whenever I share my photos on Twitter, Facebook or my blogs, my friends often give tips for places to eat, sights to see and fun activities to do. Sometimes I don’t need a travel guide. In an instant, I can tweet “Where can I buy the most affordable Durian in Davao City?”. The response is amazing. My twitter timeline then shows me stream of tips on the location of the market. Such is the power of social media and online friends.

I believe social media spurs interest to promote tourism in our own country just by sharing our experiences online. Each one of us have friends who have friends that are interested to visit the same place one goes.

MeetManila.com Portal

When MeetManila.com opened their portal last April, I believed it served as a response to the surge of travel interest by social media users. A centralized portal featuring the best of Philippine travel through aggregated user reviews provides quick reference. In effect, this will propagate a culture of thoughtful and responsible tourism that encourages pure appreciation of the Philippines’ authenticity in culture and natural resources.

A Tertulia Night for Thoughtful Tourism

Having a portal is a good start to talk about #ThoughtfulTourism . A celebration is another step to reach out to the empowered travelers and promote thoughtful tourism.

MeetManila will celebrate the oneness of our online travel community through a gathering entitled Meet Manila Launch Party: A Tertulia Night for Thoughtful Tourism. The event will be on May 23rd, Wednesday at Adarna Food and Culture. A big gathering of online travel groups and bloggers; government officials, especially from the Department of Tourism; and the tourism-related industries is expected to be there.

The launch of Meet Manila celebrates the game-changers; and the empowering of travelers who may be a nomad, a group, a blogger, a photographer or any travel and tourism enthusiast who share Meet Manila’s advocacy and passion for Philippine tourism.

Being passionate about Philippine tourism , I want to help promote this initiative by being part of it. Blog Watch is a Co-Presenter and Social Media Partner of the Meet Manila’s Launch Party.

What to expect at Tertulia Night

Meet a Hero is Meet Manila’s initiative that fuels their main orbit. The mission is to find and feature well-deserving Filipino citizens who lead for a good cause. These game-changers are self-driven by their knowledge, motivated by their passion, and are not afraid to fight for what they believe in.

Meet Manila is committed to support their advocacies by harnessing the combined strength of the online community. They have short-listed community heroes from all walks of life, in no particular order:

1. Chairell Winston Almendras
2. Antonio Ingles
3. Anna Oposa
4. Niccolo Cosme
5. Elizabeth Angsioco
6. Jayvee Fernandez
7. Lynn Pinugu
8. Froilan Grate
9. Lito Perez
10. Melissa Villa
11.Carlos Celdran
12. Imee Marcos
13 Loren Legarda
14. Jay Jaboneta
15. Antonio Ingles

The list does not end here. Meet Manila is encouraging everyone to endorse more community heroes. It is their belief that if we come together, we can definitely achieve more. It is indeed more fun in the Philippines when you educate to care enough for our places, people, culture and precious wildlife.

As Meet Manila promotes provinces and top tourist destinations in the country, it aims to inform people about #ThoughtfulTourism: conserving our precious wildlife, uplifting small communities, promoting far-flung provinces, and instilling ethical use of our natural resources.

Be an empowered traveler

Meet Manila is just the start of a celebration of #ThoughtfulTourism . Let us discover what Philippines truly is! Be an empowered traveler as MeetManila wants to empower you to travel further through the aid of sponsors- mobile / telco, gadget / tech, airlines, hotels and publishing groups to get the message across that it is indeed more fun in the Philippines.

Don’t forget the date: May 23rd, Wednesday at Adarna Food and Culture. For more details, check the Facebook event page.

Meet Manila Launch party is made possible through the generosity of its co-presenters: Loud Whistle, Blog Watch, When in Manila and Walk this way . A special mention to MeetManila sponsors: Lenovo Mobile, The Farm at San Benito, The Peninsula Manila, Don Papa Rum, 2 x 2 and media sponsors : Rappler , Travel Magazine and Choose Philippines.