Tourism body gears up to promote MICE in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) is targeting to increase the number of international meetings, incentive trips, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) in the country to catch up with its ASEAN peers.

Teresita Landan, officer-in-charge for TPB’s MICE department, told The STAR the Philippines need a lot of catching up to do in terms of the capacity and the promotions of MICE activities.

“It’s still a long way to go in terms of promotional budget. (In terms of capacity), not yet. But at least we’re catching up,” Landan said in an interview.

The Philippines is currently the sixth country in Southeast Asia with the most number of MICE events hosted, Landan said.

The MICE segment is seen to contribute around 15 percent of the local tourism industry.

Landan said the TPB assisted a total of 176 MICE events booked in the Philippines last year. These only include conferences and exhibitions with foreign delegates and do not count purely domestic events.

She said each event accommodated around 300 to 500 individuals, with about half of the participants being foreign delegates.

Landan said the TPB was looking at increasing the number of events it assists by 10 percent to reach roughly 200 international MICE events this year.

The TPB, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism, gives planning and logistical assistance to event organizers and corporations who intend to hold their conferences and incentives trips in the Philippines.

“We give them assistance in securing permits, we have an inter-agency meeting among the Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Immigration for easy facilitation of delegates’ arrivals, and we give brochures and giveaways,” Landan said.

Unlike other countries, the Philippines cannot provide fiscal incentives to organizers hosting their events in the country due to lack of budget. But the tourism official said the TPB’s partnership with the private sector enables it to secure discounts and cash savings on airline and hotel bookings for the delegates instead.

The TPB also participates in international trade fairs to attract more associations and corporations to book their events in the Philippines.