MANILA, 1 September 2022: The Philippines has won the bid to host the WORLDCHEFS Asian Presidents Forum 2023 through a collaboration between the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Philippines and the LTB Philippines Chefs Association.

World Association of Chefs Society continental director for Asia Chef Willment Leong made the official announcement during the Philippine Culinary Cup awarding ceremony at SMX Convention Centre held last month.

“Over the years, the national government, in partnership with private entities, invested heavily in improving Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE)-related infrastructure across the country. And with this, we are more than ready to host the Worldchefs Asian Presidents Forum next year. This will also be a great opportunity to position the Philippines as the culinary centre of excellence in Asia,” said TPB COO Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones.

The Worldchefs Asian Presidents Forum is a three-day event that aims to foster camaraderie among chefs in the Asia Pacific region with programmes such as presentation of the latest gastronomical trends, knowledge-sharing on sustainability practices and culinary education sessions.

The forum will bring together 30 delegates from different Asia Pacific chefs associations and another 3000 attendees, including professional chefs participating in the programmes, competitions and exhibits.

TPB. WORLDCHEFS 2023 event was confirmed during the World Food Expo last month.

The Philippine MICE sector is reviving business activities and hopes to quickly rebuild event bookings to match pre-pandemic 2019, a peak year for hosting conferences and exhibitions. As countries regain confidence in business travel, the country has bolstered its MICE readiness efforts and government programmes to ensure authentic travel experiences for event organisers and business travellers.

The TPB’s participation in the bid is part of the agency’s ongoing  ‘Partnerships as Pathways’ strategy that aims to strengthen partnerships with key industry players and to open up more avenues for the Philippines to host bigger international meetings and exhibitions in the future.

For more information on TPB, visit https://www.tpb.gov.ph/.

(Source: TPB)