Disrupting Cebu’s MICE

We know too well that export (both BPOs and goods) and tourism are the economic drivers of Cebu.

Talking about tourism, this space was devoted several times on the fact that year after year, Cebu holds the country’s biggest festival, the Sinulog. World renowned, its popularity grows year after year. Consequently, as it happens, hotel occupancy shoots up. That’s how Sinulog makes both religious and festival tourism becomes a major draw in the Province of Cebu. This tourist-drawing week-long Sinulog revelries is just as we say it, good for a week.  That such is the reality of the Sinulog festivities as far as our tourism initiatives are concern.

That is why this space has been egging our tourism stakeholders to do more. Using the Sinulog (which is usually, personal tourism) as the catalyst, we can opt for group tourism.  Group tourism is what the meetings industry players generally call MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) and as MEEC (Meetings, Expositions, Events and Conventions) in the United States of America.

Though this space already featured this topic several weeks ago, recent events call for another iteration. For better understanding, in MICE or MEEC, groups come in huge numbers for purposes of attending conferences, conventions, expositions or exhibits whether religious, economic, professional, environmental, medical or scientific in nature.

Truth to tell, several countries are taking MICE very seriously. The reason is very obvious. Its economic value is lucrative and huge for the host city. Among others, economic benefits range from foreign exchange generation to job creation. It also offers business opportunities that usually lead to the development and upgrade of national and regional infrastructure.

In the 2024 (the latest information available in number of meetings) statistics released by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), there were “over 11,000 international association meetings during the year. The United States remained the top country and Vienna, Austria, became the leading city globally (154 meetings).” Moreover, the report “highlighted the increased diversity, Latin America and the Middle East showing strong growth, and Asia's growing competitiveness, with data segmented by region, size, and sector for deeper insights into industry transformation.”

According to ICCA, “the popularity of countries as MICE destinations depends on a wide range of factors, not only connected to the countries themselves and their situation, but also to the type of meeting and how well it relates to the environment of choice”. Thus, logically, we have been chosen as host of the 51st IEC because we are predominantly a catholic country. Other factors “include the current social, political and economic situation of a country, its safety and its accessibility from abroad”.

Today, there is an ongoing MICE activity that draws dignitaries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). With the island of Cebu as host of major ASEAN meetings, it runs from January 25 to 30, with thousands of foreign ministers, tourism officials, and entrepreneurs in attendance.

With NUSTAR Resort as the venue, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers (AMM) Retreat will be happening from January 25 to 29 while the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) will be from January 26 to 30. Moreover, the Mactan Expo will host the ASEAN Travel Exchange (TRAVEX), its first international event since its opening on Wednesday, January 21. Notably, the TRAVEX is one of the flagship events under the ATF.

So timely and relevant, these tourism- related activities happening on the very first month of the year should had been the best opportunity for us, Cebuanos, to show to the world how capable we are as a MICE destination. Unfortunately, however, there are morons in our midst who had different agenda.

From the looks of it, this is well planned. Notably, what appeared first was a blogger making a plea to all drivers to honk their vehicles’ horn while passing NUSTAR Resort, the event’s venue. Then, what followed was, a former lawmaker took a mouthpiece and led a caravan towards the venue with supposed stops in Fuente Osmena, etc. Again, as they declared, to let the world know how corrupt this government is. A claim from a lawmaker closely associated with a former president whose records on corruption is unparalleled until today.  Undeniably, these are bastardly tricks intended to disrupt the ongoing activities.

With an award-winning international airport terminal in our midst, we could have taken pride of this momentous event. Sadly, however, there are morons amongst us who cannot distinguish good from evil.