SMX Convention Center, the largest privately-owned meeting and convention facility in the Philippines, unveiled its first managed venue in the north, the Olongapo City Convention Center.
The 2,130m2 Olongapo City Convention Center is located on the fourth level of the SM City Olongapo Central in Olongapo City, one hour and 15 minutes away from Clark International Airport.
The convention centre can accommodate 2,400 guests in a regular setting and no less than 1,900 guests in the new normal. It offers five flexible function rooms, seven meeting rooms, six kitchens or preparation rooms, one car lift, two freight lifts, and one passenger lift.
Owned by the Olongapo City Government, opening the venue now helps to build market confidence for when business events are allowed to restart,” said SMX Convention Center vice president-general manager Agnes Pacis.
Pacis also told TTGmice that the Olongapo City Convention Center “has been in the pipeline before the pandemic started to augment the need for venue spaces in the north”.
With hybrid meetings the way forward, domestic prospects includes corporate and government agency meetings, seminars with high-profile speakers, hospitality colleges with special courses, as well as church organisations.
To entice planners to hold hybrid events in its venues, aside from increasing its Internet bandwidth, she revealed that SMX is in the process of “acquiring additional software for virtual meetings to accommodate over 1,000 participants simultaneously”.
Current repurpose projects at SMX include film shoots, satellite kitchens for small catering businesses, co-working spaces, exam centres for professional certification, and fulfilment and packaging centres for e-commerce.
In addition to Olongapo City, SMX Convention Center also has a presence in Pasay, Taguig, Bacolod, Davao, Cebu and Mandaluyong.
