Ad Congress boosts local economy, widens prospects

TECH-DRIVEN MEDIA. Camarines Sur Gov. LRay Villafuerte and Naga Mayor John Bongat (center) join the AdCongress22 executive committee at Tuesday’s press conference at Passion Restaurant of Resorts World Manila. The chair of this year’s ad congress is Sandy Prieto-Romualdez (seated, second from right). The other members of the executive committee are (seated, from left): Barbie Atienza, Merlee Jayme, AdBoard chair Andre Kahn and Blen Fernando. Standing (from left) are Doris Bermudez, Connie Kalagayan, Monette Hamlin, Jose Sy, Ricky Alegre, Margot Torres and Miguel Belmonte of the Star. Contributed photo

NAGA CITY, Philippines—Only an hour past noon, taxi driver Edwin S. Urbana had already earned enough for his “boundary,” transporting delegates of the 22nd Philippine Advertising Congress from Naga to the Camarines Sur Watersports Complex (CWC), about 15 km away from the city, as the Ad Congress opened here this week.

Ordinarily, Urbana would have had to ply the streets of Naga from morning till evening or wait for passengers needing to go to a far-off destination to earn the P800 “boundary,” the daily rental drivers have to pay taxi operators.

But since delegates began arriving days before the Ad Congress opened on Wednesday, Urbana said he has been earning good money.

The taxi driver was not the only one benefiting from the event.

“It’s like a fiesta in Naga. You know, there are lots of people in the city based from the number of cars plying the streets,” said Alec Francis Santos, the head of the city’s Arts, Culture and Tourism Office.

More people means more sales and income for businesses in the city, he said.

“In fact, the demand for pili nut products at the Naga City People’s Mall is very high. The volume of people going there is also high,” he said. The Naga City People’s Mall is the city’s public market.

Santos also said the four-day event was providing temporary employment for residents of the city, especially local cottage industries producing souvenir items like bags fashioned out of water lilies.

All Naga City hotels were also fully booked. “Some delegates (who could no longer find hotel rooms) even availed of home stays,” he said.

More than the direct boost the event is giving the local economy, the Ad Congress has also widened the investment prospects of the city and neighboring areas, particularly with about a hundred companies and businesses participating in the trade exhibit at the Capitol grounds, which adjoin the CWC, located in the town of Pili.

The exhibits make the provincial capitol grounds teem with people trooping in from nearby Naga City and other towns to see and interact with company representatives.

Amid the hot weather, hundreds of residents here and visitors went to the trade fair on board free shuttles provided by the provincial government.

Dubbed as “TRADEX22 RUGAME?,” the exhibit is part of the Ad Congress conducted from Oct. 16 to 19. Booths that showcase companies’ services and products were set up near the CWC.

Among the participating companies were the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Vista Land, Resorts World, Robinsons’ Communities, and many others.

Each of the participating companies boasted state-of-the-art displays topped by giant screens from two of the country’s leading television networks.