October 13-16, 2016 will be the tipping point in Philippine Tourism when 600 to 800 travel bloggers from US, Europe, and around the Asian region converge for Travel Blogger Exchange (TBEX) Asia Philippines 2016 !
Travel Massive Manila kicks off TBEX Asia 2016 preparations with a networking night with TBEX organizers, Philippine Travel Bloggers, and the Tourism Promotions Board. You can join future Travel Massive Manila travel community events by joining the chapter here: https://travelmassive.com/chapters/manila.
Here’s a photo-essay of the Travel Blogger Exchange Kickoff with Travel Massive Manila Community …
The first Travel Massive Networking Night was held at Arrozeria BGC last February 11, 2016.
Meet Rick Calvert – the CEO of Travel Blogger Exchange (TBEX)! (Photo credit to my 6-year-old son, Raphael)
Meet Mary Jo Manzanares (in red) whom I met in Athens last November 2014 where the idea of bringing TBEX to the Philippines was hatched. She organizes the TBEX event and curates the speaker line-up for the event.
Meet Patti Hosking (in black) who is the Director of Business Development for NMX Events and the one responsible for completing the TBEX deal with the Department of Tourism.
Spanish Chef Chele Gonzales, one of the top chefs in Manila hosted us with awesome Spanish food and paella!
No celebration in Manila is complete without our world’s famous Philippine Lechon!
Arrozeria serves the best authentic Spanish Paella in Manila!
This is our favorite black thin noodles called Fideua in black ink squid with Octopus!
Meet David Condon, General Manager, and Tony Ahn, Chief Marketing Officer of Skiddoo, an online travel agency for flights startup based in Manila.
We generated a lot of ideas on how to make TBEX Asia Philippines the best ever. We had a deal that Rick will get Anthony Bourdain to keynote the event, and we will get Manny Pacquiao to be part of TBEX in October!
The top travel bloggers in Manila are all excited about TBEX Asia 2016! Meet Melo of Out of Town Blog.
I’m starting to recruit all the food bloggers to become food and travel blogs starting with Beatrix Acosta of Click the City!
Pinoy Travel Bloggers (PTB) represent! (PTB is the local community of travel bloggers in Manila)
Finally got my signed copy of #Badette book from Micaela Rodriguez of Senyorita.Net!
The awesome people of Philippine Tourism Promotions Board who made all this event happen!
Ivan had a great idea to run a contest on the best TBEX post-event tour itinerary this February. The winning travel bloggers will lead their selected itinerary in October!
Meet the youngest travel bloggers in training with their papa and mama.
Thank you to Chele and the entire Arrozeria team for the awesome dinner!
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
Disclosure: I wrote this article with my biases, opinions, and insights. Read Our Awesome Planet Complete Disclosure Policy here.
P.S. Register for TBEX Asia 2016. There’s a special discount code for those who attended. Email me (antondiaz@gmail.com) for the special discount code if you forget it.
Can anyone ask Rick if he’s planning on responding to the inquiries surrounding his other conference, New Media Expo? There are a lot of upset people who are requesting refunds because they bought tickets for a conference that isn’t happening.