THE World Trade Center Metro Manila (WTCMM) has mapped out an expansion that includes building a hotel and managing another World Trade Centre in other parts of the Philippines.
WTCMM senior vice president and general manager, Pamela D Pascual, said the company envisions an international brand of “four-star but world-class hotel” on the five-hectare compound.
Pascual said WTCMM is also in talks with potential investors to build an office building on the compound, explaining that a typical World Trade Centre, apart from the exhibition space, has a hotel and office building “for complementation”.
Providing one of the biggest exhibition venues in the Philippines that can accommodate 20,000 people theatre-style, WTCMM is also eyeing a potential World Trade Centre in cities like Cebu or Iloilo.
Built in 1996 to international standards and customised for exhibitions at a time when organisers were “purists”, sticking to exhibition-only events, WTCMM has since evolved. Last year, in response to a growing trend for exhibitions to include meetings and learning components, the venue added four meeting rooms with a total capacity of 600 pax theatre-style.
“We built those function rooms so we can get more exhibitions but we’re also developing the market for meetings and conventions so the function rooms would be able to stand on their own without the exhibition market,” said Pascual.
Meanwhile, WTCMM is progressing in its second phase of renovation which includes changing the façade, ceilings and signages.
According to Pascual, the market for exhibitions and special events has grown and foreign shows are starting to come back to the Philippines. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meetings and leaders’ summit will use the entire WTCMM exhibition centre as media centre for 4,000 media personnel, for six weeks from October to November next year.
