Last month, Manila welcome the last edition of TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) Asia Pacific, the biggest travel bloggers event. The Department of Tourism of the Philippines, which has been represented by Interface Tourism for 10 years, sponsored the event. We could not dream of a better opportunity to invite 6 French bloggers to discover some of the Philippines’ treasures  and to perfect, with them, our knowledge about blogging. Let us tell you all about it!

An event both for travel bloggers and professionals

The event took place from the 13^th to the 16^th of October in the Philippines’ capital. It is all about conferences both for bloggers and professionals, networking and theme evenings. During the two days of conferences, the bloggers could attend to various breakout sessions such as “Snapchat & More: how to make social media video content work for you” or “How to build a thriving real community around your blog & brand”. Professionals were not left out with sessions crafted for those who wish to work with influencers: “Popular vs Successful: crafting campaigns with lasting impact”, “Don’t gamble your money on bloggers, know what to measure, and how to measure”.

A great opportunity for the host destination

TBEX is far from being interesting only for bloggers and professionals. The host destination can also greatly benefit from it, since trips take place around the country with small groups of bloggers before and after the event. As a result, attending bloggers have been able to visit several islands of the Philippines, such as Cebu, Siargao, Palawan or Boracay. Among the 300 international bloggers who attended to the fair, some 216 have taken part in these blog trips. Those are 216 bloggers potentially influent who have then shared content about the destination to their community. If the beauty of the Philippines’ landscapes and the quality of experiences to be lived across the archipelago are enough to convince to share content (we swear, we are not saying that just because we work with the Philippines!) the Department of Tourism went farther by creating the contest #SoulOfThePhilippines: using this hashtag, bloggers could win another stay in the Philippines. Just imagine the online coverage on the trips!

Instagram contributions for the contest #SoulOfThePhilippines

Let’s precise that such an event requires a great organization and appropriate infrastructures. The survey that was carried on during the fair highlighted the success of that first edition in Manila: beyond the quality of the conferences, it’s the Flipinos’ kindness that the bloggers wished to insist on!

Manila, Cebu and Siargao: a beautiful trip for the French bloggers

Our group flew to the Philippines for 10 days: after two days of conferences in Manila, Aurélien of the blog Voyage Way, Claudia and Clément of Clo&Clem, Virginie of A Taste of My Life and Alexandre and Laura of Buenos Viajes discovered Cebu and Siargao. A nice trip between the visit of the historic neighbourhood of Manila, the discovery of the islands and snorkeling around Cebu, surfing lesson and unlimited fresh coconuts in Siargao. We wish we could go back!