THE CONFERENCE Education and power of knowledge are the pillars of progress advocated by the Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippine Convention and Visitors Corporation (PCVC) and the Movement of Incentive Travel Executives (MITE). The DOT, PCVC and MITE are committed to regularly organize educational programs that will upgrade the standards and quality of services of existing tourism facilities and services to ensure that they meet the requirements of incentive travel clients are met. Incentive travel is a specialized sector of tourism which demands no less than imagination, creativity and excellence. The Philippine Incentive Marketing Conference was therefore institutionalized to provide a continuing educational programme aimed at professionalizing the local incentive travel industry. From the 1st Phil-Incentive organized by the PCVC in 1994, this conference is steadily gaining as a quality educational program and continues to stimulate high interest in the growing meetings and incentives industry that is dominated by young, forward-looking individuals. The 2nd Phil-Incentive was significant as it was the first tripartite collaboration of the PCVC, MITE and the host destination - - Davao. The 3rd Phil-Incentive reaffirmed this tripartite collaboration with the Province of Negros Occidental and the cities of Bacolod, Bago, La Carlota and Silay as active hosts. The 4th Phil-Incentive was equally successful with Makati as the host destination. The 5th Phil-Incentive was another tripartite collaboration between and among the PCVC, MITE, and the Province of Aklan, the host destination. The staging of Phil-Incentive in Boracay underlined the growing awareness that the Phil-Incentive is not only about Marketing, it is likewise about changing minds and changing attitudes for the good of the host destination. The 6th Phil-Incentive returned to Cebu, the "Queen City of the South", in recognition of its pivotal role in institutionalizing the Phil-Incentive when it hosted the highly successful and unforgettable " Creating A Dream" Seminar in 1993. This year, the 7th Phil-Incentive will become the vehicle for the New Generation of incentive planners and practitioners to launch their creative vision for the industry. It aims to spawn new marketing approaches in promoting the Philippines by challenging the status quo with its widely accepted and commonly used strategies.