ILOILO City – This city is set to strengthen its tourism industry with capacity-building programs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) following its successful hosting of a key regional economic meeting last week, a development that city officials say could further position Iloilo as an emerging regional hub for trade, services, and innovation.
Mayor Raisa Treñas said the February 25 to 27 staging of the 49th High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration not only demonstrated the city’s capability to host high-level international events but also opened concrete opportunities for local industries, particularly the tourism sector.
“Hosting (it) was a meaningful milestone for Iloilo City. It allowed us to showcase our capability to host major international engagements while positioning Iloilo as an emerging hub for trade, services, and innovation in Southeast Asia,” Treñas said.
Treñas said ASEAN’s engagement has already resulted in tangible benefits for the city, including the offer of skills and capacity development trainings for local tourism stakeholders.
“ASEAN has already offered capacity development trainings for our tourism sector, especially here in Iloilo City,” she said.
Under the ASEAN Economic Community framework, the mayor said tourism-related businesses in the city will also be linked with global online travel platform Agoda to strengthen their digital marketing capabilities.
“They will link us with the Agoda team to train our tourism content companies on how to effectively package and list their products and services on global online platforms, helping them reach a wider international market,” she said.
Treñas noted that Iloilo City is strategically positioned to benefit from ASEAN-led economic integration because of its expanding information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) sector and its large pool of English-proficient professionals.
“Currently, Iloilo City has a growing IT-BPM sector and a strong, English-proficient workforce, which makes us well-positioned to benefit from these regional reforms,” she said.
The mayor expressed optimism that the city’s increased visibility in regional economic discussions could attract more investments in the near future, including business process outsourcing expansion and potential data center projects.
“We expect more opportunities for BPO expansion and even potential data center investments,” Treñas said.
Treñas added that Iloilo City stands to gain stronger regional partnerships, increased investments, and improved competitiveness as ASEAN continues to deepen economic integration among its member states./PN
