With Clark as host to a premier gateway and Pampanga a center of culinary expertise, the Freeport could still emerge as an international MICE destination given its strategic location and infrastructure.
At Pampanga Press Club’s News@Hues media forum, Michael Francis Nabong, founder and managing director of Hospitality Solutions PH (HSPH), said that Clark would just need to ramp up more its facilities such as room inventory and convention halls in order to capture the regional and international MICE market.
News@Hues is a regular media discussion hosted by Park Inn by Radisson Clark, a member hotel in SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation.
“We haven’t reached that point where we have exhausted efforts to make Clark a (international) MICE destination. That is something everyone else would want to look into. We don’t have yet that full capacity yet to get the international MICE events,” Nabong said.
Clark Freeport has about 4,000 rooms across international hotel brands and independent players inside the former US airbase. The SMX Clark Convention has about 1,200 capacity.
Tour and travel experts said that for a local area to become an international MICE destination, it would need at least 5,000 rooms and a convention facility that could seat about 10,000. These are the same requirements in hosting a big regional gathering such as the conduct of ASEAN meetings of heads of state and senior ministers.
HSPH is aimed at partnering with hotels, institutions, and service-driven organizations to support sustainable growth and improve business outcomes.
The company is grounded on operational realities—offering clear, structured strategies that improve efficiency, enhance guest and client engagement, and elevate service delivery.
Nabong said that independent players in the hospitality business would always have a market share in the industry even with the advent of so-called integrated resorts.
“For independent properties, I would look at service since (physical) structures cannot be changed. Service we can, by putting a standard. Whether one is big or small, it is always service and the people also. If we invest in training for standards like that of international chain (of hotels), then we will be able to cope up,” he added
With his vast experience in various facets of hotel management and operations spanning two decades, Nabong brings to the table at HSPH, elevated standards in sales and marketing, commercial strategy and revenue management which he acquired from working at international hotel brands.
Clark Freeport was recently conferred a recognition on MICE by World Travel Awards.
Clark International Airport Corporation, an agency tasked to oversee Clark’s 2,200 aviation complex, has embarked on building a 30,000 convention center under its Clark Aviation Capital project.
Nabong was joined by Lewie Paras, HSPH consultant for operations and commercial. The latter also has vast experience in hotel operations in Clark and elsewhere.