TPB gearing up Clark Freeport for M.I.C.E.CON 2014
MANILA, Philippines - With the support of the Clark Development Corp., the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) is gearing up various sectors of the tourism industry at the Clark Freeport, Pampanga for the influx of hundreds of local and foreign participants in the forthcoming Philippine Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions/Events (M.I.C.E.) Conference 2014.
TPB chief operating officer Domingo Ramon Enerio III cited Clark as an emerging showcase of the country’s growing and improving facilities for MICE, now reportedly a trillion-dollar global industry.
Enerio said MICE in the Philippines, like in most parts of the world, accounted for a large chunk of both local and foreign visitor volume and tourism revenues.
“Yet the market continues to surge and evolve with constant changes in client preferences, forcing the industry to adapt accordingly to cash in on this tourism phenomenon,†Enerio said.
Online reports placed the number of conferences and exhibitions held worldwide annually at some 400,000 valued at $280 billion, as shown by statistics from the International Congress and Convention Association, an MICE organization with almost 1,000 member-firms in 90 countries.
Another industry organization, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, was reported placing the annual MICE industry output value at $1.16 trillion consisting of $400 billion from conferences and $760 billion from exhibitions.
“The huge income from MICE indicates the enormous economic benefits it can bring to the host CBDs (central business districts) like Clark,†Enerio said.
Other CBDs where the M.I.C.E.CON has been held were Subic, Cebu and Davao, hinting at the strategic marketing plan of the TPB to position the Philippines as a preferred MICE destination in Southeast Asia.
Slated at the Fontana Convention Center in Clark on June 4 to 7, the M.I.C.E.CON 2014 will have experts sharing their trade secrets and providing strategies in marketing, business and technology, association management, communication, organizational development, and other opportunities, including those from the integration of the member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its impact on the regional economy.
Expected to participate in M.I.C.E.CON 2014 are industry practitioners, airlines, hotels, resorts, convention centers, destination management companies, incentive and event planners, professional congress/exhibit organizers, MICE venues, local government units, and the media.
M.I.C.E.CON 2014 will also bring in around 40 select MICE buyers from Australia, China, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Russia and another 10 local corporate buyers primarily for the one-day Buyer/Seller Business Exchange, or M.I.C.E. Mart.
With the theme “M.I.C.E. in 4D (Driving Passions, Developing Minds, Defying Limits, Designing the Future),†M.I.C.E.CON 2014 is aimed at bringing the country’s MICE industry to another dimension of development.
M.I.C.E.CON 2014 is being organized by the TPB in partnership with two major Philippine MICE organizations — the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Exhibitions/Events Philippines Inc. (MITE Philippines), and the Philippine Association of Convention and Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers (PACEOS).
The official participating hotels in the M.I.C.E.CON 2014 include Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks, Widus Hotel and Casino, Holiday Inn Clark, and Montevista Villas-Mimosa Golf & Country Club.
For inquiries on registration, contact the M.I.C.E.CON Secretariat (c/o TPB, MICE and Business Development Unit) at +632 525-6635, 525-9318 to 27 local 256, fax at +632 521-6165, or e-mail at cit@dotpcvc.gov.ph/, miceregn2014@yahoo.com/ or tpb.specialevents@yahoo.com.
