LGUs urged to develop MICE market for tourism

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (MICE) sector should be developed at the local level for the sector to thrive across the Philippines.

“LGUs (local government units) should embrace, learn, and study MICE principles. There should be a law in their locality promoting MICE as an industry,” Network of Independent Travel Agencies (NITAS) vice president Angel Ramos Bognot told The STAR.

She said there should be a local convention bureau to oversee and professionalize MICE programs.

“A culture of tourism seminar should be given to the community to appreciate their history, culture, heritage and there should be pride of place,” Bognot said.

“They should allocate funds in holding MICE projects as an incentive to attract more arrivals, patronage and loyalty,” she added.

Bognot also said there should be a strong partnership between the government and private sector in achieving their goals and aspirations for the MICE market.

Colliers International Philippines research manager Joey Roi Bondoc told The STAR that hotel operators should also look at the Philippines’ top source of tourists and see how they could firm up partnership with the Philippine government in enticing more regional organizations and events organizers to hold conferences and meetings in the Philippines.

“They should also expand MICE facilities in areas outside NCR where airports are being modernized. We are seeing SM and Filinvest Group cashing in on the planned modernization of Clark Airport and in the near term, hosting of SEA Games,” Bondoc said. 

“Generally we see a lack of quality MICE facilities in Metro Manila and nearby urban areas. Three-star hotels need to provide more MICE facilities especially in the northern QC area,” he said.

Bondoc added that hotels should complement their MICE facilities by providing discounts in in-hotel restaurants and retail shops.

“It would also be interesting to complement MICE with co-working space for corporate guests,” Bondoc said.

Tourism Congress of the Philippines president Jose Clemente III earlier said infrastructure geared towards the MICE market must be either constructed or upgraded.

“While we have facilities such as hotels, convention centers and others, we need to add more and bigger venues throughout the country,” Clemente said.

This leads to the development of more destinations in the country.

“We need to develop more destinations outside of the main areas such as Manila, Cebu, and Davao to decongest those urban centers, and more importantly, to spread the benefits of tourism to other areas,” Clemente said.

Last year, the DOT launched the MICE Roadmap 2030, which plans a more definitive approach to the growing industry.

Under the roadmap, the industry is eyeing to grow revenues generated by the MICE market to P24.4 billion by 2030, an estimated 430 percent rise from the P4.6 billion registered in 2016.

In addition, the roadmap also targets the gross value added of the MICE industry to increase to P1.4 billion by 2030, from P415.3 million in 2013 and an improvement of the average rate in delegate expenditure per meeting by 19 percent.

“For the meetings sector, this means rise in the country’s ICCA (International Congress and Conventions Association) rank from being 14th out of the 35 countries in the region in 2016, to being in the top 10 by 2030 in terms of having the most number of meetings,” the DOT said regarding its aim to boost the competitiveness of the sector.