PHILIPPINES’ SMX Convention Specialist Corp is strengthening its position in the international business events market with hardware expansion in Manila and Davao.
The SMX Convention Centre, sited within the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City, Manila, will turn five this November and is looking at expansions totaling 10,000m2.
SMX Convention Center AVP for sales and marketing Marivic Marquez said the company’s first option was to construct the new facilities adjacent to the existing centre, but considerations were also made for the additional spaces to be included within a hotel next door. The hotel is targeted for a 2015 opening.
The company will raise another MICE centre in the capital city by early 2013. Part of a mixed-use residential and commercial complex in the Bonifacio Global Centre, near the Makati business district, the 2,000m2 Aura Pavilion will house three halls and nine meeting rooms.
Beyond Manila, SMX Convention Specialist Corp is set to open a convention centre in Davao in the third quarter of this year, offering some 5,400m2 of space that can be divided into three separate halls. It will be adjacent to a new mall and a future Park Inn by Radisson hotel that will open next year.
Explaining the hardware expansion, Marquez told TTGmice e-Weekly that there was repeated demand for larger convention facilities in Manila, while Davao could capitalise on the recent increase in flights into the destination through the country’s international airports including Mactan Cebu International Airport and Clark International Airport.
