THE Department of Tourism (DOT) is finalizing an action plan to reach the goal of generating some P25 billion in revenue by 2030, from the country’s hosting of meetings and conferences.
In a Viber message to the BusinessMirror, DOT OIC Undersecretary Verna Buensuceso said, “The DOT is set to prepare a MICE Tourism Strategic Action Plan as a detailed plan of action for the development of the industry. This will be ready by the first half of 2023.” MICE refers to meetings, incentive tours, conventions, and exhibitions.
She added, “The initial [MICE] roadmap launched in 2018 is the principal document for MICE tourism development. During the pandemic, the DOT together with members of the MICE Roadmap Technical Working Group conducted a series of Focus Group Discussions (FGD) to assess the feasibility of the earlier targets set. The results of the FGDs showed that the initial targets are still attainable by 2030.”
The MICE Roadmap 2030 aims to position the Philippines as a leading MICE destination in Asia Pacific and the Middle East by that year. It hopes to expand the economic opportunities from these events and strengthen the country’s global competitiveness in the business.
Among the targets include the expansion of usable space for exhibitions to at least 100,000 square meters by 2030, from 70,895 sqm in 2017. By 2030, the Philippines should be among the top 10 in the International Congress and Convention Association’s global ranking.
While leisure travel has resumed in most parts of the world including the Philippines, MICE tourism and business travel in general have been lagging, with many conferences still being conducted in a hybrid fashion.
Local MICE organizers earlier shared they have resorted to bidding for government meetings and events to shore up revenues and keep their companies top of mind. Many of them had been dependent on the Chinese market not just for events but for participants and attendees. China, however, has remained closed for outbound travel except to Hong Kong and Macau, as it continues grapple with widespread Covid-19 infections among its population.
A survey conducted by DOT in 2021 among MICE-related businesses indicated close to majority, or 48 percent of those surveyed, recorded annual gross sales of P40 million. Asked on the impact of the pandemic on their revenue, a “huge chunk” of respondents said it resulted in 50- to 100-percent drop in revenue and sales, and 0- to 25-percent decrease in workforce.
Other targets in the roadmap include increasing the gross value added (GVA) of the MICE industry to P1.4 billion by 2030, from P415.3 million in 2013; raising the GVA of the MICE industry in proportion to the gross domestic product to 0.01 percent from 0.004 percent in 2013; and lifting the average rise in delegate expenditure per meeting by 19 percent from 5.4 percent in 2016. The roadmap still has to determine the number of jobs generated from MICE as against the total employment created.
Under the roadmap, the DOT also is targeting a 3-percent per annum increase in MICE arrivals until 2030, from a 10.4-percent increase in arrivals in 2016.
Image credits: Patrick Roque via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0