The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) is heading for a “very good year next year” barring natural calamities.
It “may even exceed the pre-pandemic period” as there has been a revival of events after two years of pandemic and associations. International events are also starting to come in, shared PICC general manager Renato Padilla.
In an interview, Padilla said school events came in first after the pandemic. They used to hold commencement exercises in 1Q of the year, but now it is in the 2Q and 3Q after the start of classes in the Philippines was moved from June to August.
Universities and colleges that did not have commencement exercises for over two years have been holding them this year and there are universities, including Far Eastern University, that held commencement exercises for two weeks, each for every course, he said.
Among the major international events at the PICC this year were the 14th Edition of the International Conference of Information Commissioners in June; and Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) in September. Upcoming in October and November are the International Rice Congress, and 31st Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum respectively.
Professional associations, such as those representing architects, the medical field like family physicians and paediatricians, and government agencies, have also resumed their conventions and conferences.
The second half of the year is traditionally the peak season for events, with lots of bookings for conferences and Christmas parties coming through at PICC.
During the pandemic, the Philippine president heeded the request of Padilla to issue a directive for all government agencies to hold events in PICC, which is owned by the Central Bank of the Philippines. Government agencies were able to host their events there without having to go through bidding, and the convention centre gave them the flexibility of settling their bill after the event.
PICC is also getting its fair share of regular religious conventions and events, from just one religious group then to four now. Another new source market is the K-pop meet-and-greet with fans.
However, the expansion of PICC, a National Cultural Heritage together with its four artworks done by National Artists, has been put on hold.
The multistorey building near PICC – that was being repurposed from a museum to a building with exhibition areas, office and commercial spaces – was temporarily shelved as the government realigned its budget and spending priorities due to the pandemic.
