Tacloban’s MICE ‘catcher’ opens doors to the public

The Summit Hotel Tacloban is positioning itself to be the premier MICE (meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibits/events) venue, not just in the province of Leyte but Eastern Visayas.

The fifth in the collection of Summit Hotels and Resorts is not only a full-service hotel for travelers and vacationers but has the facilities and services needed for the successful staging of MICE, says Arthur Gindap, senior vice president and business unit general manager for Robinsons Hotels and Resorts.

Focusing on MICE dovetails with the current thrust of the country’s tourism campaign.

The 138-room Summit Hotel Tacloban, so far the largest hotel in Leyte’s provincial capital, is set up to facilitate small, intimate meetings, as well as big conferences and conventions. Its ballroom, also the largest in Tacloban, can comfortably accommodate 600 people.

Property architect Albert Yu designed the hotel to give guests a glimpse of what Leyte and Eastern Visayas have to offer.

Lisette Arena, senior marketing manager, says each Summit hotel is “connected closely” to the host community through its design and other features.

Guest suites’ designs borrow from local culture, particularly the region’s colorful festivals—the Sangyaw, a religious and sociocultural event held before Tacloban’s fiesta; Lubi-lubi, named after the coconut dance performed during a parade to mark the feast day of Santa Rita de Cascia; and the Pintados, a festival that showcases the tattoos of the first inhabitants of the Visayas.

For incentive travelers, Summit is a convenient base for exploring Leyte and neighboring provinces. Both Leyte and Samar boast of numerous natural attractions, says Rodel Balierbare of the Department of Tourism’s Region 8 office. They include white- (Kalanggaman Island in Leyte has sandbars that appear during low tide and disappear when the tide shifts) and pink-sand beaches, caves and waterfalls.

The regional Department of Trade and Industry office reports that the one-town-one-product government program thrives in Eastern Visayas allowing the region to offer a variety of food items, handicraft and other unique items not found in other parts of the country.

Summit Hotel Tacloban is in Robinsons Place Tacloban, Barangay Marasbaras. —LINDA B. BOLIDO