The Palau Visitors Authority (PVA) is a semi‐autonomous body created by law to promote and encourage the development and marketing of tourism as one of the primary economic sectors of the Republic. In this connection, PVA was part of the 28th International Travel Expo (ITE) & 9th Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, & Exhibitions (MICE) held in Hong Kong from June 12 – 15, 2014.

PVA Vice Chair of the Board, Ms. Yumie Morishita and staff, Ms. Bernie Besebes attended the event on behalf of PVA. The Expo highlights travel themes such as Cruise, Wellness & Medical

Tourism, Overseas Wedding & Honeymoon, Study Tours, Travel Photography, Sport Tourism & In‐Depth Travel. This is made possible through trade and public seminars by travel writersand celebrities, special displays and cultural demonstrations.

In a city of 7.18 million people, the Expo was PVA's best shot at introducing Palau as a prime tourist destination to the Hong Kong market. According to statistics provided by the event organizers, a total of 87,608 people attended the Expo. This gave the 650 exhibitors, including PVA, exposure to thousands of consumers in each of the four (4) days of the Expo.

Many visited the Palau booth to ask information about Palau as most have never heard of it. Some of the most asked questions were: where is Palau, how do we get there, what is there to do and see, etc. Yet another question asked was the size of population. To say the population was approximately 20,000 drew gasps of shock and looks of astonishment, not to mention amusement. It also ignited much interest as it also represents less crowd and pristine environment therefore more opportunity to relax and truly relieve stress. With this level of exposure, many of those who visited the booth are excited and very much looking forward to visiting Palau.