MICECONNECT 2021 Boracay: The Premier Bleisure Destination In Asia

The Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Philippines and the Department of Tourism (DOT) successfully held this year’s MICE Buyers Invitational Program, also known as MICECONNECT 2021, in Boracay from November 13 to 15, in collaboration with the Boracay MICE Alliance, positioning the world’s best islands as a premier leisure and MICE destination.

Meeting facilities, hotels and resorts, tour and transport operators, event management businesses, and destination management companies were among the 52 online suppliers of MICE products and services who attended the event.

The two-day examination of assets and locations that can be considered for future MICE events was attended by 48 registered buyers from the private and governmental sectors and local and international MICE planners and organizers, 23 of whom were onsite. Health and safety kits and antigen tests were also provided and kept delegates.

A full-day business-to-business (B2B) meeting was also organized through the virtual platform, yielding an expected income of Php 27,000,000.00 for two contracted events, as well as leads for nine MICE events beginning in December and next year.

Boracay is a well-known top leisure destination in Southeast Asia, famed for its pristine white sand and turquoise waters. MICECONNECT represents the rising confidence in Boracay’s potential to host incentive travel, small to medium size conferences, and other corporate events in the future as the Philippine MICE industry ramps up its preparedness efforts.

MICECONNECT

One of the buyers, Ian Laroda of Travel Warehouse Inc., commented on the usefulness of MICECONNECT has pioneered how businesses and communities connect. Because our tourism workers also benefit from economic advantages, it becomes a way of giving back to them. It becomes a win-win situation, and I am grateful to have witnessed it at MICECONNECT Boracay.

The Philippine tourist sector hopes MICE buyers can pave the way for reviving the local MICE market, fuelled by renewed interest in bringing local, regional, and worldwide events to Philippine destinations other than Boracay.