Singapore’s economy expanded 14.5 per cent in 2010, and the trend is for a further upswing throughout 2011.
The island state welcomed 108 new wins and inaugural major business events in 2010, compared to 80 the previous year. Industry experts canvassed by the local Straits Times newspaper expect the MICE pie to grow a further 10 per cent this year.
Visitor arrivals were up a fifth, at 11.6m last year, and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) aims to raise tourism receipts to S$30bn (US$23.5bn) by 2015, with a S$2bn Tourism Development Fund acting as one catalyst.
The Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB) aims to be a business event champion and build on the state’s reputation as a business and intellectual hub. SECB is focussing on attracting and anchoring business events in key industries such as biomedical sciences, ICT and digital media, environment and water technologies, banking and finance, transportation and logistics, and tourism.
One scheme run by SECB since 2006 is the Business Events (BE) initiative designed to help local MICE industry bid for events.
Sixty international organisations already have their Asia-Pacific bases in Singapore. They include Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the World Wildlife Fund International, and the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). And there are 7,000 multinationals altogether in Singapore.
The SECB is pursuing a Strategic Clusters Approach, a strategy designed to create an eco-system of business events that complement and reinforce one another’s presence on the market.
Singapore’s Conference Ambassador Programme, meanwhile, has a network of 1,000 ambassadors.
The venue choice for big events is still anchored by the Suntec convention centre at Marina Bay and Singapore Expo (Singex) near the airport. Other major purpose-built conference spaces include the Raffles City Convention Centre and the Waterfront Conference Centre.
Suntec’s Pieter Idenburg tells CMW his venue ended 2010 on a total of 1,536 events, an increase of nine per cent over 2009.
“We welcomed 6.8m visitors and 51 conventions to our venue and the reservation book is looking healthy for 2011,” he adds.
New and returning international events listed for 2011 at Suntec include:
- Asian Shipping and Work Boat 2011 (March)
- Cards Asia 2011/RFID World Asia 2011
- /Retail Solutions World Asia 2011 (April)
- Broadcast Asia 2011 (June)*
- ad:tech Singapore 2011 (June)
- Singapore International Water Week
- 2011 (July)
- JEC Composites 2011 (October)
- ITB Asia (October)
- World Chinese Entrepreneur
- â—¦ Convention 2011 (October)** new events
Over at Singex, the island’s largest purpose-built conference and exhibition venue, a new convention wing, The Max Atria @ Singapore Expo, is due to come on stream in 2012 featuring 23 meeting rooms and pre-function areas that will add 8,000sqm of space Singex Chief Executive Aloysius Arlando says Max Atria will provide organisers with “an oasis-like experience, without the distractions associated with the bright lights of the city”.
Arlando believes the new convention wing will boost Singex’s ability to bid for multi-dimensional business events and tradeshows which require adjoining areas for complementary activities.
“Organisers are changing the way they plan business events,” he says. “The ‘confex’ model (i.e. holding one or several conferences within an exhibition) is becoming commonplace, while global conferences are rightsizing into cosier, decentralised zonal events to reach out to a diverse marketplace.”
The International Furniture Fair Singapore/ASEAN Furniture Show has been anchored at Singex for the past 11 editions and Chairman of organiser IFFS, Andrew Ng, said Max Atria will add “a refreshing dimension” to Singex.
Singex Chairman Bob Tan points out there is rising regional competition for the MICE dollar, although he believes (and ICCA statistics bear it out). “Singapore continues to be Asia’s destination of choice for event organisers,” says Tan.
Singex welcomed six million visitors and 600 events last year, including Herbalife Asia Pacific Extravaganza. Foreign visitors to Singex generated S$500m for the local economy.
“The format of business events is evolving to derive maximum return on investment,” Tan says. “More concurrent activities are now held alongside the main convention or exhibition. This has spurred demand for more flexible venue settings.”
“We are revisiting our business model so as to take advantage of the new dynamics,” says Arlando, who adds that Singex is staging more fringe events such as dance and musical performances.
Integrated Resorts
Mega tourism projects such as the Integrated Resorts (IRs) are transforming the MICE landscape in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands, which opened last June, boosted capacity with more than 120,000sqm of events space, including a 8,000sqm ballroom. Its convention centre has 200 meeting rooms and can hold 45,000 delegates. The S$8bn ($US6.2bn) complex features a 2,561-room hotel.
Resorts World Sentosa
Sentosa Island hosts the other Integrated Resort, Resorts World Sentosa. Fun and excitement have not been overused words in regard to Singapore in the past, but RWS provides an all-action family and incentive travel destination. It is al
so home to Southeast Asia’s first Universal Studios theme park and a range of hotels. It has 26 function rooms and 20 indoor and outdoor events venues.
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