CURRENT MISSION

To see the world and travel for FREE or with minimal cost...take tons of photos and meet friends worldwide...and share them with my folks and students back home.

ABOUT ME

Melissa Grace a.k.a. œMel€ Dizon-Dulalia, MBA is a Tourism Educator handling tourism professional core subjects since 2006 as her love and passion are geared towards the introduction of innovative, experiential-based and beyond-the-classroom programs that aims to enhance students' learning capabilities, skills and interests by implementing a multi-disciplinary approach in teaching. She was affiliated with two (2) nationwide organizations with over eight (8) regional chapters in the country, the Tourism Educators and Movers (TEAM) Philippines since its incorporation in 2008, where she served as the Secretary General since 2011 and also the National Coordinator of League of Tourism Students of the Philippines (LTSP), the biggest and largest network of tourism, HRM, and hospitality management student organization in 2009.

Mel has a personal advocacy to reach out to the academe by sharing her travel experiences to the academic community. She strongly believes in the capacity and potential of both private and public stakeholders to significantly contribute to the academic sector and make tourism-related events and activities a substantial part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) with as a way of giving back to the society and to commit their participation in nation-building.

She is the immediate past Executive Director of the North Philippines Visitors Bureau (NPVB) promoting North Philippines tourism by promoting destinations, disseminating information and by enhancing the travel experience with her biggest contribution by expanding the itinerary and sponsorship of Lakbay Norte 2: Media Familiarization Tour of North Philippines 2011 with both AIR and LAND travel sectors with Sponsorship Values amounting to over PHP2MILLION pesos.

Lakbay Norte is a media familiarization tour organized by North Philippines Visitors Bureau covering Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) of North Philippines. Twenty (20) media travel practitioners from broadsheets, travel magazines, in-flight magazines, Philippines top bloggers and NPVB’s own Northbound Magazine, participate in this tour visiting the sites and attractions of Bulacan, Pampanga, Greater Clark, Greater Subic Bay, Tarlac, Pangasinan, La Union, Baguio, Cagayan and Ilocos Norte.

With its huge success, Lakbay Norte was featured in over a hundred and fifty (150) articles with premium placements from Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, The Manila Bulletin, Business Mirror, Sunday Inquirer Magazine, Travel Plus Magazine, Travelife Magazine and many more. Internet articles and blogs of the said media tour was also seen in Yahoo! Philippines, Travel Blogs (langyaw.com, ironwulf.net, justwandering.org, karlodl.com)

Trip na Trip of ABS-CBN came out with two (2) episodes for Lakbay Norte and This is Life with Cory Quirino of Studio 23 came out with one full episode. The Lakbay Norte official videos were also featured in SM Cinemas, Smart Araneta Coliseum and Victory Liner buses.

It was also in this project that the NPVB Team came up with an Audio Video Presentation (AVP) and a 30-seconder TV Commercial/Teaser.

Corporate sponsors for this organizations were Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC), Mc Donalds, SMART Communications, Victory Liner and Robinsons Land.

Other sponsors included: Cebu Pacific Air, GV Florida Bus, SOUL Café, Tam-awan Village, Bencab Museum, Café Sabel, Hotel Elizabeth, Microtel-Tarlac, Pinatubo Spa Town, Kuliat Foundation, Flying V, Island Grill, Ki Won Restaurant, C' Italian Restaurant, R.O.X. (Recreational Outdoor Exchange) Networx Watersports, Lighthouse Marina, Lilian Borromeo, Cagayan Provincial Government, Sun City, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Eastern Hawaii
Buguey LGU, Claveria LGU, Kapuluan Vista Resort, Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte, Pasuquin Bakery, Pasuquin Salt Making, Herencia Café, LEAD Movement, Rosewell Restaurant, Balay da Blas, Playa Tropical, Texicano Restaurant, and many more.

January 23 to 27, 2011 (Sector 1) and March 2 to 7, 2011 (Sector 2)

As to her educational background, Mel is an international scholar sent to Israel, Japan, Taiwan for different study programs and presently a Candidate for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration from the San Beda College-Graduate School of Business, where she also graduated with academic distinction/silver medal in 2004. She finished her Bachelor of Arts major in Interdisciplinary Studies (AB-IS) from the De La Salle University-College of Saint Benilde in 1998.

She is the daughter of the late Elpidio T. Dizon (also known as "E.T. DIZON", the Father of Visa Assistance in the Philippines) and Victoria C. Dizon, the founders of the E.T. DIZON Travel Corporation, a multi awarded travel agency specializing in visa assistance since 1965.

Ms. Mel also served as Full-time Faculty Member of the Hospitality Department of Adamson University, Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management (ITHM) of Far Eastern University (FEU), a was a Senior Lecturer II of Miriam College under the Leisure and Tourism Management (LTM) Department and Professor at the La Consolacion College Manila.

Aside from her voluminous work and various interests, she also served as Unilever'€™s Sunsilk Shampoo and Etihad Airways'€™ Brand Ambassador/Endorser being chosen as the grand prize winner for Sunsilk's Hair Expert Makeover: BEST EVER GIRL with a TV commercial aired early 2012 on the Entertainment Channel (ETC) and was sent to Paris, France for an all-expenses paid trip as her reward in 2011. In recognition of her efforts and various contributions on different events, she was appointed by then President of the Philippine Austrian Cultural Society, Hon. Consul Thelmo Luis "Buddy"  Cunanan of the Republic of Georgia, for the year 2012 as the Public Relations Director and part of the Rizal Statue Project in cooperation with the Department of Tourism and the National Parks and Development Committee (NPDC) for the historic Rizal Park. Early this year, she was also designated as the Public Relations and Tourism Director of the Honorary Consulate of Georgia in the Philippines to effectively communicate to the public the Consulate's plans and programs, to organize cultural events and activities, and strengthen relations between private and public stakeholders and partners in the Georgia and the Philippines, through meaningful exchanges and cooperation.

This 2013, she was granted an International Tourism Scholarship Program at the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) from April to May 2013 under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Philippines and the State of Tirol, Republic of Austria in cooperation with the Philippine Consulate in Innsbruck, as the Official Representative of the Philippines endorsed for the said scholarship.

PHILOSOPHY
She believes that TOURISM is a LIFESTYLE. Her life's mission is to see the world, build a network and do business with friends and educate people as part of her personal advocacy. Her claim to fame is that she coined the word edTOURtainment which embraces tour/travel with media and advocacy packaged in one.

She has cascaded different experiential-based engagements such as: FlairTOURtainment with BACARDI, VisitaValenzuela with then Mayor now Congressman, Hon. Sherwin Gatchalian, ZooTOURtainment with Philippines' top photographer Mr. John Chua and Hon. Consul Buddy Cunanan of the Consulate of Georgia and more. She also co-organized with Consul Cunanan, the First Filipino Robben Island Swim in February 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa dubbed as the RAINBOW OF HOPE and the First Filipino Art Exhibit in December 2014 in Tbilisi, Georgia dubbed as the COLORS OF HOPE, both under the First Filipino International Movement.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Just let me know of your projects, volunteer works since I am also a member of several non-profit organizations here in the Philippines...we can sort schedules and get involve all the more.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Sometime 1998 when I graduated with Latin honors, my mom gave me a trip to the U.S. and Canada. With friends from the chat room back then, I met them in several cities and stayed in their homes for a couple of days, never did I know that this practice will be known as COUCHSURFING! With this realization, I would like to try and be a part of this multi-faceted experience.

This is my very recent contribution as Blogged by Mr. Ronnie Bernardo ( https://www.facebook.com/hrh.iam.iam?fref=ts ) :
READ ALL ABOUT IT:
http://heliconprojects.blogspot.com/2013/08/grand-prize-winner-of-austrian-airlines.html

Interests

Travel, Tourism, Tourism Academe, Socio-Civic organizations, Tours, FREE trips!

• arts
• flying
• tv
• traveling
• volunteer work
• socializing
• outdoor activities
• swimming
• business
• communications
• teaching
• history
• medicine
• tourism
• volunteering
• tours
• parks

Music, Movies, and Books

An experience without photos are inexistent. (Ang experience na walang picture ay drawing) - MGD

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I joined SUNSILK's BEST-EVER HAIR EXPERT PROMO contest on facebook and won a trip to PARIS!!! A dream come true...but beyond winning...the whole experience is all about meeting people and building and strengthening relationships...

Teach, Learn, Share

Keep sharing...

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cultural experience and our hiSTORY...