MICE tourism to attain 22% increase in arrivals by 2016 -- DOT |
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By Azer N. Parrocha
MANILA, May 15 (PNA) -- Gone are the days
when the Philippine tourism industry depended solely on individual
foreign tourist arrivals to boost the country’s economy.
Looking
in the near future, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is relying on MICE
(meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) tourism to attain a
22 percent growth in foreign tourist arrivals by 2016.
Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. on Thursday said that it is about
time that the DOT seize chance to turn the Philippines into a
destination for MICE.
He expressed enthusiasm in line with the
upcoming World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2014 to be held on May
22 to 24 this year in Manila.
“The reason why conferences are
increasing in the Philippines is that the Philippine business community
is now more confident to invite their regional and global organizations
to meet in the Philippines,” Jimenez said in an interview.
“Before,
executives in the Philippines hesitated to raise their hands if they
were asked if their home country would be available for venue for
regional or global conference. Now, they’re all volunteering,” he added.
Jimenez
further said the tourism sector’s success could owe it to the Aquino
administration’s efforts to turn tourism into a full-blown industry that
drives inclusive growth.
“You’re seeing a lot more regional and global conference for private corporations which is actually the core of MICE,” he said.
The tourism chief noted that growth in MICE tourism is increasing as a result of economic improvements in the Philippines.
He
said that it also helped that the Philippines had the geographical
reality of cutting travel time for Asian countries in half.
“If
you’re Japanese or Korean, you’re less than four hours away from Manila -
similar if you’re Malaysian or Singaporean; just a little bit more than
five hours if you’re from Jakarta. Everyone else is about seven hours
away from each other,” Jimenez said.
“We’re not exactly a huge
venue but we’re a very efficient venue because we have a lot of services
that require for high power meetings-.
The fact that the
Philippines was known for its English-speaking staff, experienced
secretariat and business processes that can be passed through very
quickly all contribute to making the country an ideal venue for MICE.
“Why
is it economically exciting? Our income from one MICE conference is
about six times our income from regular tourism,” he said without
mentioning digits.
“If we had more MICE arrivals and less individual arrivals (we) would actually make more money,” he added. (PNA)
LAM/ANP
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