Tourism body pitches Philippine MICE market to international buyers

MANILA, Philippines — The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) is pitching the Philippines as a preferred destination for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) in the international market as it continues to participate in trade shows abroad.

“It is hoped that the Philippines would confirm more international conferences and meetings, incentive tour groups and exhibitions in the next two or three years,” TPB said in a post on its Facebook page.

TPB recently headed the Philippine delegation at the Incentive Travel and Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA), the leading international MICE show centered in the Asia Pacific region.

The Philippine exhibitors occupied 210 sqm of exhibition space that featured local coffee and delicacies such as suman, otap and piaya.

“Incidentally, the Philippine Pavilion design and the Philippines were nominated in two separate categories of the 2019 Sticky Awards, IT&CMA’s recognition of the most exciting, creative, innovative and effective products, promotions and personalities at the event,” TPB added.

Approximately 960 combined pre-scheduled appointments with international MICE buyers took place on the exhibition floor of the IT&CMA, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand from Sept. 24 to 26.

Earlier this year, TPB also participated in the Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings (IBTM) Americas 2019.

“The newly launched MICE show by internationally renowned Reed Travel Exhibitions Group pools an extensive gathering of MICE players from both IBTM North and South Americas shows, allowing them to network with suppliers from all corners of the world,” TPB earlier said.

Travel trade and MICE buyers were invited to visit the Philippine booth to sample award-winning Benguet coffee sourced from the Philippine highlands.

“The overwhelming reception of the Americas market to the Philippine participation promises much return for the government and its partner stakeholders in the coming years,” TPB said.

Last year, the Department of Tourism 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 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 a rise in the country’s ICCA (International Congress and Conventions Association) rank from being 14th of the 35 countries in the region in 2016 to being the top 10 by 2030 in terms of having the most number of meetings,” the DOT said.