Philippines being groomed as MICE destination

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has the potential to attract foreign travellers as a destination for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (MICE) , according to a leading property analyst.

Santos Knight Frank chairman and chief executive officer Rick Santos told The STAR the Philippines has been seeing increased demand for conferences in recent years.

“The Philippines tends to be one of the most cost-effective destinations for some hotels and that kind of MICE activities,” he said, emphasizing that the hotel sector needs to improve its marketing and promotions to the global market in order to sell the country

Santos said the country’s MICE industry is not only attracting neighboring countries in the ASEAN region, but is also appealing to the global market due to the lower costs it offers.

“It attracts a global appeal just like BPOs. It’s cheaper to come here for hotels and conferences and activities,” he said.

He said the demand for MICE facilities is not exclusive to conference, but also includes entertainment events such as rock concerts and sports events.

While the country is already a attracting a fair share of demand for the MICE industry, Santos said the sector needs to further improve its marketing and promotions to be able to attract a larger share of the global market.

“I think there is a huge potential in the entertainment industry here and people here like to go to rock concerts and especially basketball and emerging sports like rugby and soccer,” Santos explained.

“The more exposure we get, the more we will be able to build up our national game (for MICE),” he added.