ILOILO City – To marry business tourism with environmental responsibility, Iloilo City has unveiled SPROUT Lab, a pioneering initiative designed to slash waste and set the city apart as the Philippines’ first green hub for meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE).
The program — Sustainable Practices and Responsible Operations of Unique Tourism — forms part of the “Green Meets Great” campaign launched in 2024 to elevate Iloilo as the model for eco-friendly gatherings in the country.
“We have positioned the MICE Center to advocate for green gatherings. As we know, large tourism, while it’s good for our economy, contributes a lot of waste as well, and has an impact on the environment. We want to do our own balance of activities,” stressed MICE Center Director Maria Lea Victoria Lara.
SPROUT Lab will roll out seminars, stakeholder trainings, and community engagement activities to embed sustainability in every aspect of MICE operations. Target participants include hotels, resorts, restaurants, coffee shops, travel and tour operators, event venues, transport groups, academe, and media — sectors seen as critical to shaping Iloilo’s green future.
“Encouraging active participation and support from tourists will help reinforce Iloilo’s commitment to eco-conscious development and responsible tourism,” Lara said, underscoring the need for visitors to respect local ordinances and sustainability drives.
To spur competition, the Iloilo City MICE Awards will soon recognize stakeholders with best practices in sustainable tourism.
“We will capacitate them first to ensure that they comply, and then we will have that recognition program. We want to be on track in making sure that establishments, the people, and the events are of the standard,” Lara explained.
She further noted that the MICE Center is aligning local initiatives with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s MICE Standard, ensuring Iloilo keeps pace with world-class benchmarks.
The unveiling of SPROUT Lab on September 25 capped the second Iloilo MICE Conference, which this year zeroed in on infrastructure development and allied tourism services — pillars seen as vital in reinforcing the city’s push for a sustainable, globally competitive tourism brand./PN
