ILOILO City – This city’s campaign to become one of the country’s top meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) destinations got a major boost.
The Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) approved a P17.6-million grant to fund its multi-year promotional drive.
MICE Center director Maria Lea Victoria Lara said the grant will help the city and its private sector partners under the Iloilo MICE Alliance intensify marketing efforts, produce new promotional materials, and mount business-to-business events in key cities and abroad.
“We want to be able to market our facilities, function rooms, primary convention center, and hotels that can house more than 10,000 guests. We hope that through the grant they are providing, we will be able to have more activities in terms of business-to-business, events in key cities or internationally since we have international flights,” Lara said.
The grant, facilitated through the office of TIEZA Chief Operating Officer Mark Lapid, will be released over five years — P3 million for the first year, P3.5 million for the second, and P3.7 million annually from the third to fifth year.
According to Lara, the initiative will not only enhance Iloilo’s visibility in the global business tourism market but also encourage stronger private sector participation in hosting and promoting large-scale events.
They expect to formalize the partnership through a memorandum of agreement among TIEZA, the Iloilo City Government, and the MICE Alliance before the end of the month, detailing how the grant will be utilized.
Lara said the long-term goal is to attract more investors and position Iloilo among the top five MICE destinations in the country and eventually in the ASEAN region.
“Hopefully, we will be able to achieve our goal to make Iloilo a top five MICE destination not just in the country but of course ASEAN, and renewed support from our partners,” she added./PN
