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[av_heading heading=’‘MICE direction multiplier for Iloilo City, WV tourism’’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’18’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
By Rhick Lars Vladimer Albay
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Tuesday, February 27, 2018
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ILOILO City – Currently, Manila and Cebu are the top MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) destinations in the country – attracting numerous international and local confabs every year – but the hotel executive of the newest and biggest player in the Iloilo hospitality industry sees the city getting a larger slice of the pie in the next few years.
“You see Cebu and Manila as the focal areas for MICE business these past few years. But we know Iloilo will have a lot to offer in the near future,” Cleofe Albiso, general manager of Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo, told Panay News, highlighting that the international brand business hotel will officially open this May 9.
“Courtyard looks forward to contributing to the business sector with our presence. People from outside the country know that Marriott is a trusted brand, and with us here it will hopefully drive interest for more conventions and meetings to be held in Iloilo City,” she added.
In an interview earlier this month, Iloilo Business Club executive director Lea Lara said that there is a burgeoning initiative to establish Iloilo City as an emerging first-class MICE hub.
“Iloilo City is seeking to increase our capacity in the hospitality industry by breaching the 4,000-mark of hotel and resort rooms,” explained Lara. “We have 3,200 Department of Tourism-accredited rooms as of the moment. With a couple of hotels already building, that goal is very much attainable in the next few years.”
When Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo opens this early May, it will effectively push Iloilo City’s DOT-accredited resort and hotel rooms to more than 3,500 – just a few hundred shy of the 4,000 goal.
“The target of the city and the DOT is very doable in the next three years, with new players interested to put in a few hundred rooms more. Everybody is positioning themselves to cater to not just tourists but also large conventions,” expressed Albiso.
‘MICE DIRECTION’
The very first Courtyard hotel in the Philippines, Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo is owned by the world’s largest hotel company with more than 5,700 properties in over 110 countries.
Albiso sees the Courtyard brand – a top-tier business hotel name under Marriott International – as the ideal fit for Iloilo, especially with the city’s current direction of opening its doors to more local and international conventions.
The DOT under the Duterte administration is championing the “MICE Roadmap 2030,” aiming to place the country in the Top 10 rankings of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA).
In the 2016 ICCA Statistic Report Country & City Rankings, the country placed 48th out of the 116 countries worldwide and 14th of 35 countries in the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions in terms of having the most number of meetings – with the number of conventions held is still largely concentrated in Manila and Cebu.
Iloilo City is ramping up its campaign to become a larger player in national MICE tourism, with Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo seen as a potentially large contributor to the local industry’s growth.
“There’s an extended interest when a city hosts a convention,” explained Albiso on the “multiplier effect” of the MICE industry. “Attracting large groups of people – maybe most their first time visiting Iloilo City – will lend a pool of individuals who will share [through social media or by word of mouth] and spread awareness about the local tourism.”
“It offers great potential for exponential growth,” she added. “[MICE attendees] will multiply the knowledge of Iloilo, so the interest to explore the city’s cuisine and sights, to buy local delicacies, the interest to travel around the province will grow.”
Additionally, an average MICE attendee is seen to spend six times more compared to a typical tourist, according to a DOT study.
“MICE not only contributes to tourism, it also adds greatly to the hospitality industry, and to the retail market around the area and the venue,” said Albiso, commending the city’s direction. “This year we are feeling the ramp up of the local MICE business, and with Courtyard here, we hope to add our own great stamp on it. [The growth] is going to be something that will validate the direction of the city.”
Albiso attributes a lot of the city’s growth in the MICE business to the establishment of the Iloilo Convention Center, with its 3,700-seat capacity main hall on the ground floor and 500-seat function rooms on the second floor – just a stone’s throw away from Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo.
“Marriott puts up business, especially hotels in emerging cities that it envisions to really grow exponentially. It’s Marriott saying ‘I want to be first.’ Our presence here will hopefully eventually invite more international chains to invest in Iloilo. We know Iloilo has a lot to offer,” she added.
“There’s already been an outpour of associations and companies wanting to host their conventions and quarterly meetings here in Iloilo City in the next few months,” shared the hotelier. “We’ll be working hand in hand with the Iloilo Convention Center.”
“We are the first international brand here in Iloilo, but we’ve also seen a robust string of hotels here owned by local Chinese businessmen, with some national brands as well. We are very honored to be involved in Iloilo’s very dynamic hospitality scene,” Albiso concluded.
Courtyard by Marriott is slated to open on May 9 – with 326 ergonomically designed rooms and prime amenities. The hotel is set to offer 71 deluxe king rooms, 102 deluxe double rooms, 83 corner king guestrooms, 49 corner double rooms, 16 junior suites, and 5 accessible rooms bespoke for guests with special needs.
The 15-floors hotel will boast an active space of almost 12,000 square feet, with one grand ballroom that can cater to 220 guests and an additional board room connected to a business center with readily available secretarial services./PN
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