Philippines eyes MICE market from Americas

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is targeting more meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (MICE) buyers from the Americas as the Tourism Promotions Board  recently participated at 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 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.

The Philippine contingent consists of members from the TPB and the DOT, Sharp Travel Service, Intas Destinations Management, Inc., Annset Holidays, Corporate International Travel and Tours Inc. and Rajah Tours Philippines.

Last year’s IBTM saw a total of 12,500 business appointments which were attended by 785 buyers. Out of its 416 show exhibitors, 54 percent were international exhibitors, and only five percent of that is from Europe and Asia.

“With only Japan and Thailand present from Asia that year, participation in IBTM Americas 2019 became of specific interest to the Philippines as a golden opportunity to market the country and its private sector partners to the Americas,” TPB said.

TPB said that the increasing arrivals to the Philippines from the Latin American market prompted immediate and strategic marketing activation from TPB and the DOT.

In the first quarter, the Philippines welcomed a total of 1,868 arrivals from South America, a 27.51 percent increase from 1,465 arrivals in the same period last year.

Arrivals from North America, on the other hand, declined by a slight 1.34 percent to 112,149 from 113,674 a year ago.

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

Under the roadmap, the industry is eyeing to grow revenues generated by 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 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 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.