Iloilo City is poised to claim the title as the “Philippines’ first green MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions destination”.
The city embarks on an aggressive Green Meets Great program outlined in its 2025 outlook presented by a team led by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas at a gathering in Makati City on Oct. 22, 2024.
Green Meets Great signals a liveable, sustainable, highly urbanized Iloilo City, offering a wide array of green MICE options for traveling groups eager to experience.
Records from the Department of Tourism showed that Iloilo City logged 752,301 visitors in 2022, and 886,283 in 2023, generating about P8.29 billion tourism receipts. The city has over 4,000 rooms in 47 hotels, 54 cultural sites, five major shopping malls and one convention center.
“Aside from festivals, our MICE-related events have influenced the steady stream of visitors. Our facilities and accessible gateways have attracted MICE visitors from all over the country and the world,” said Maria Lea Victoria Lara, director of the Iloilo City MICE office.
Banking on Iloilo City’s growing list of international recognitions, among them a Clean Tourist City by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Creative City of Gastronomy bestowed by UNESCO in 2023, Iloilo City’s ongoing Green MICE initiatives include accreditation of solar panel and energy saver establishments, government buildings and accommodations as well as renewable energy adoption incentives, and waste management protocols especially for streets and parks.
Other efforts geared towards a sustainable environment include paperless registrations and bookkeeping, cashless transactions, emphasis on no smoking city ordinance, no styrofoam and no plastic directives in events.
“We have established Iloilo’s transformation and competitiveness as one of the country’s most liveable cities,” Lara said. “We are a heritage city, a medical tourism hotspot in Western Visayas, a fitness friendly city, a garden city and so many other recognitions & roles.”
