Singapore celebrates another award-winning year

Representatives from the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB), a group within the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), attended EIBTM in Barcelona this year with a delegation of ten industry organisations and a clutch of new awards and accolades garnered throughout the year.

These include Top International Meeting City (for the first time, pipping perennial favourites Paris and Vienna) and Asia’s Top Country and City for Meetings (Union of International Associations 2007) and Asia’s Top Convention City for the 9th time/Third Top Convention City in the World (ICCA Global Rankings 2007) and are exemplified by the recent success of milestone events such as ITB Asia – cementing Singapore’s reputation as Asia’s premier BTMICE (Business Travel, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) destination.

On top of these awards, 2008 has been a year of exciting new infrastructural developments such as the Singapore Flyer – the world’s largest observation wheel - and the opening of Changi Airport’s Terminal Three and the Marina Barrage, a dam creating Singapore’s first city centre freshwater reservoir - a facility combining water supply to Singapore’s residents and a range of water-based activities, attractions, and leisure and business events. Business event organizers and meeting planners can tap into the myriad indoor and outdoor venues that are conducive for holding meetings, exhibitions, conventions and incentive group activities.

The Singapore delegation, headed by Oliver Chong (Regional Director, Europe) and Divya Panickar (Area Director, Northern and Western Europe), was on hand to update the industry on future attractions and venues such as the much-anticipated Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa Integrated Resorts (IRs), scheduled to open in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and the International Cruise Terminal which will significantly increase Singapore’s cruise passenger handling capacity and help to meet Singapore’s target of achieving 1.6 million cruise passenger throughput by 2015.

In 2007, BTMICE visitors accounted for close to three million of total visitor arrivals, and contributed over S$5 billion or 40% of total tourism receipts. The STB aims to raise the tourism receipts contribution of the BTMICE sector to S$10.5 billion by 2015.

ITB Asia - a new travel trade show for the Asian outbound market – was held at Suntec Singapore from 22 to 24 October 2008. The event was the brainchild of Messe Berlin, the organiser of the world’s largest travel trade show, ITB Berlin, designed to bring international and Asian travel industry professionals closer to buyers and sellers in the growing Asian travel market. The inaugural ITB Asia attracted stronger than expected demand from the international travel industry, reflecting the buoyant outlook of the Asian outbound travel and the growth potential of the travel trade in the region, despite the current economic slowdown.

Delegate turnout at the inaugural ITB Asia exceeded the estimated target of 5,000 delegates and 500 exhibitors. The three-day trade event welcomed 6,208 delegates and 651 exhibitor companies who took up 10,600 square metres of space in Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Mr Chong comments: “The success of ITB Asia has further sealed Singapore’s reputation for excellent infrastructure and a proven track record of service delivery. We are confident that ITB Asia will grow in terms of size and quality after the first year and solidify its position as a leading tourism tradeshow in the region. Messe Berlin has projected double-digit growth for ITB Asia over the next two years that the event is hosted in Singapore.”

“More opportunities in the tradeshows segment are developing as these increasingly move out of their domestic bases, such as Japan and the US, to seek new markets. In the competitive Asian environment, organisers are increasingly finding Singapore to be an ideal location for their maiden show outside their home country. Examples of these new wins include the Asian Welding Show from Japan, as well as the Industrial Fabric Association International from the US – the latter has recently announced that it will be launching a new tradeshow called IFAI Expo Asia, in Singapore in April 2010”, he added.

New events in 2009 include the Alzheimers’ Disease International Congress, the FDI World Dental Congress, and the Asian Youth Games, while conventions such as BioMedical Asia 2009 and the Singapore International Water Week 2009, are being staged again after a successful inauguration this year. These events were in part secured for Singapore with support rendered by SECB and the industry through “BE [Business Events] in Singapore”, an holistic and comprehensive incentive scheme launched in 2006 to enable the local BTMICE industry to competitively bid for and attract a critical mass of business events to the city, thereby sustaining a robust business pipeline.

Mr Chong said: “Our goal to grow the number and prestige of business events staged in Singapore is on-going, regardless of the economic climate. Singapore is pursuing a greater slice of the multi-billion dollar international BTMICE market and is adept at reinventing itself to deliver uniquely personal experiences to business delegates. Through ongoing investment and partnerships, and the success of initiatives such as the ‘BE in Singapore’ scheme, we are confident that Singapore will continue to lead the way.”

The international profile of the city as a ‘must-see’ and experience destination was further enhanced with the staging of the 2008 FORMULA 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix on the 28th September, the first night race in Formula One history and the first street race in Asia. The Grand Prix was a great success and helped boost European visitor figures to Singapore for that month to 94,097, compared with 88,810 visitors for the same month in 2007 – a year-on-year increase of 5.96%. Singapore will host the Grand Prix for the next four years.

In addition to the FORMULA 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, business event organizers and corporate groups can leverage on Singapore's calendar of exciting leisure events to create an exhilarating itinerary of business and leisure activities for their incentive travel and meeting delegates. Corporate groups can synchronise their incentive and meeting programmes with events such as the Singapore GP Season, Singapore River Festival, Singapore Sun Festival and the Volvo Ocean Race, which will call at Singapore as one of several stops on the 2008-09 race.

In 2009, the opening of the Marina Bay Sands IR will add more than 100,000 square metres of BTMICE space and add 2,600 hotel rooms to the city’s accommodation capacity, as well world-class convention and exhibition facilities, an innovative ‘Sky Park’, and Singapore’s first casino.

According to Mr Chong: “The continuing ability of Singapore to garner coveted industry awards indicates that we are perceived as a vibrant business destination providing the BTMICE market with an ever-increasing diversity of venues, facilities and support services.”

“This is particularly crucial as we move into 2009 which may see a deepening of the current economic downturn. The need to demonstrate a clear return on investment for business events by corporates and associations will rise in importance and this means that events need to deliver tangible benefits to clients.

“ MICE industry players in Singapore are ready to work closely with clients to firmly define the value proposition for their events with appropriate support from the SECB. At the same time, the SECB will continue to work closely with our industry partners to aggressively develop new business leads, strengthen our marketing, channel development efforts and enhance our marketing initiatives,” he added.