Cebu facing a good problem with MICE

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu could be facing a good problem with the steady growth of MICE (meetings, incentive, conferences and incentive) events.

Tourism advocate and Network of Independent Travel Agencies (NITAS) chairman emeritus Robert Lim Joseph, said with more or less 16 thousand hotel rooms available in Metro Cebu, it could hardly accommodate the influx of MICE events, now that the government is putting its attention in capitalizing on MICE.

However, while this poses a hiccup in tourism growth, this is also an opportunity for capitalists to invest in building more accommodation facilities specifically in the metropolitan districts.

Province-wide, Cebu logs 24,000 rooms available for transients, this already include the small pension houses.

Joseph applauded DOT’s thrust in putting focus in bid-bid-bid campaign, as this will bring in volumes of tourists to the country.

Recently, Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat urged Cebu tourism industry players to make MICE in the forefront of marketing efforts, as this is seen to become “bread and butter” of Cebu’s tourism sector.

Puyat expressed high confidence that Cebu’s remarkable growth in tourism industry onwards will be ushered by the MICE segment, although Cebu’s food tourism, beach and other usual attractions also continue to charm both domestic and foreign tourists.

The opening of the world-class airport, which has been described as “most beautiful airport in the Philippines,” is Cebu’s magnetic force to command attention from big travel accounts abroad, such as MICE.

Puyat mentioned the two major international events that will be held in Cebu this year, the Routes Asia in March 2019 and CAPA (Center for Aviation) Summit in June, among others.

Cebu is a perfect target for these big ticket and high profile events not only for its touristic lure, but for the establishment of its world-class terminal, which connects to major airports around the world.

According to Puyat, Cebu should make careful preparations in hosting these two events, as these are the sophisticated ground to invite big MICE events in the future.

While MICE is going to be the landmark bait of Cebu to attract more tourists, it also has to create more products to entertain tourists aside from beaches and sightseeing.