RP targeting $300-billion global MICE market

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is targeting a respectable share of the world’s $300-billion market for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE).

Tourism Secretary Ace Durano said this market could account for at least 50 million trips taken each year across the world solely for MICE purposes.

“Of the $300 billion, meetings and conventions account for about $280 billion, incentive travel for $8.5 billion, and exhibitions for several billions more,” Durano said.

He cited the MICE market as a stable source of foreign visitors since this sector proved to be the most resilient or less susceptible to price fluctuations and seasonality than others, thus increasing hotel occupancies even during lean months or off-season.

“Moreover, MICE visitors have higher disposable income, are large users of tourism facilities, spend up to three times more than the average tourists, require massive manpower support, boost retail sales, and increase tax revenues,” he added.

As to how much of the $300-billion MICE market the Philippines could possibly capture, Durano said the Department of Tourism (DOT) was still setting its target based on historical data, current capacity and market prospects vis-à-vis those of other countries.

Records from the DOT’s marketing arm, the Philippine Convention and Visitors Corp. (PCVC), show the country hosting a total of 237 international corporate conferences in 1994, or 64 percent of all business meetings held in Asia during that year.

“However, the global industry has since become so competitive that most countries now aim for a slice of the large and still lucratively expanding MICE pie,” Durano said.

“So among the strategies are to develop more local MICE destinations other than Manila, expand total venue and room capacity, improve support infrastructure, raise industry capabilities, and hone the skills of our tourism workforce,” Durano said.

Such are the reasons for the staging of the Philippine MICE Conference (MICECon) at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center on Feb. 4-7, 2010, he added.

The event, according to DOT Undersecretary for Planning and Promotions and MICECon chairman Edu Jarque, will be the biggest for the Philippine MICE industry.

Organized by the DOT and the PCVC, the MICECon 2010 “is a revolutionary move toward the unification of major actors and players in the Philippine tourism industry to pump up the Philippine MICE sector,” Jarque said.

“With the stiffer competition in the global MICE market and the slowing down of the international economy, our local industry players must get their act together for a common agenda, continuously retool tourism frontliners through educational seminars and conferences like the MICECon 2010, and make the Philippines a choice MICE destination,” Jarque said.

Conference convenor Rosvi Gaetos said the MICECon 2010 evolved into a platform for the integration and strengthening of the local MICE sector by combining two major projects – the long-running Philippine Incentive Marketing Conference organized by the DOT-PCVC and the Movement of Incentive Travel Executives (MITE), and the Philippine Asia MICE Forum spearheaded by the Philippine Association of Convention/Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (PACEOS).

Supporting the MICECon 2010 are the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Philippine Airlines, Philippine Tourism Authority, Cebu province, Victory Liner, Islands Philippines, WOW Jeepney Tours, Clark Development Authority, Clark International Airport Corp., Hotel Sales and Marketing Association, National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, Smart Communications, Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. Annset Holidays Inc., Abacus International, Philippine International Convention Center, SMX Convention Center, and Travel Café Philippines.

For more information on the MICECon 2010, contact the MICECon Secretariat at 525-9318 local 233 or 525-6110, or visit www.dotpcvc.gov.ph.

“The MICECon 2010 can significantly help our local industry players acquire the expertise in tapping this highly lucrative global MICE market,” Durano said.