Philippine Diving Expo to Return in February 2024

To consolidate its position as Asia's leading diving destination, the Philippines will host the Philippine Diving Expo again next February.

The Philippine Department of Tourism will host PHIDEX 2024, the largest diving economic platform in the country. It will be held at the World Trade Center in Pasai from February 23-25, 2024.

Launched in 2019, the three-day event is billed as the region's only dive show with a value-added activity component and aims to bring together dive travel decision-makers, global experts, businesses, local communities, enthusiasts, marine conservation associations and national tourism organizations.

PHIDEX has a dive travel exchange or TRAVEX business-to-business conference, connecting local and international dive operators.

It also hosts diving conferences where local and international diving experts can network and exchange industry knowledge.

In addition to these networking platforms, PHIDEX also arranges post-event dive familiarization tours, allowing international buyers and media to experience the country's dive sites and products firsthand.

This year, the Ministry of Transport said it had hired Underwater 360, the organizer of the Asian Diving Expo, as the exhibition part of the expo. The Asian Diving Expo is the longest-running and largest diving expo in Asia.

It also invites exhibitors to contact Desmond Ho of Underwater 360, who is also the Regional Business Manager of Asia Geographic Magazine Pte Ltd/Asia Diving Expo/Underwater 360 Asia, and to contact PHIDEX Exhibition via desmond@asiangeo.com and desmond@uw360.asia if they wish to join..

At the same time, the Ministry of Transport previously reported that the contribution of the diving industry to the country's tourism industry is clear in 2022.

During this period, the Philippines received about 37 billion pesos in tourism revenue from international diving tourists, equivalent to more than 17.5 percent of the country's overall tourism revenue last year.

This contribution is also evident with the recognition of the Philippines as a diving destination in the region.

Last month, the Philippines was named the best diving destination in the Asia-Pacific region at Travel Weekly's Asian Readers' Choice Awards.

In September, it also won the title of "Asia's Leading Diving Destination" for the fifth consecutive year at the prestigious World Travel Awards 2023 Asia and Oceania Awards.