DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 Oct) – Davao City Tourism Office head Generose Tecson announced that the city has won the hosting rights for the Philippine Meetings, Incentive Travel, Convention, and Exhibitions/Events Conference (MICECon) 2020, dubbed as the biggest and most anticipated gathering of MICE professionals in the country.
Tecson said in a text message that the hosting, announced by the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Philippines at the culmination of the MICECONnect 2019 at The Peak, Grand Hyatt Manila on Wednesday, would boost the tourism push of the local government to position the city as the MICE capital of the Philippines and Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
According to its website, the TPB, an attached agency of the Department of Tourism, markets and promotes “the Philippines domestically and internationally as a world-class tourism and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) destination, in strategic partnership with private and public stakeholders to deliver a unique high-value experience for visitors, significantly contributing to increased arrivals, receipts and investments to the country.”
The TPB is also the organizer of the MICECon, which serves as a platform for MICE stakeholders to “learn from global experts new trends, approaches, methods and insights as well as draw inspiration and energy from their message to reach and fulfill new heights for the Philippine MICE and Tourism Industry.”
“We are very much elated with TPB’s declaration of Davao City as the host for MICECon 2020. As we are positioning ourselves as the MICE Capital of the Philippines and BIMP-EAGA, this gives us a chance to renew ties with old economic and tourism stakeholders as well as make new connections,” Tecson said.
She added that the MICECon 2020, expected to happen on September 28 to 30, 2020 at the SMX Convention Center Davao, will draw around 500 participants, giving the city a chance to showcase its “diverse, all-inclusive, and multicultural city with peace-loving and disciplined people.”
Tecson said the Clark Development Corporation, which manages the Clark Freeport Zone, also placed bid for the same hosting rights.
In an interview with reporters early this month, Tecson said the local government was quite confident it would bring home the hosting rights because “we’ve gone to other conventions in other parts of the country and we can say that we are very much at par if not better.”
She said the local government has an existing MICE program created in 2013.
“It’s just a matter of reinventing the incentives of our MICE program in order to get ready for next year but with the MICECon or not, we are going to push with the ‘Let’s Meet’ program of the Mice Board, and we are going to make sure to strengthen the incentives that we will give for those organizers who will hold their conventions here in Davao,” she added.
Tecson believed the city has sufficient convention facilities and hotels to be ready for the MICECon. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)