Singapore - Asia’s top Convention City

Singapore has once again maintained its position as Asia’s Top Convention City for 10 years running, according to the latest Global Rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). In addition, Singapore has retained its spot as the only Asian city in the Top Five Convention Cities in the World alongside Vienna, Barcelona, Paris and Berlin, since 2006. The accolade comes after a stellar year for Singapore tourism as the country welcomed a record high 13.2 million visitors, exceeding its forecast range of 12 – 13 million. The number of business visitors rose to 3.2 million, an increase of 2.6% from 2010, and 24% of total visitors arrivals to Singapore. Expenditure by these business visitors also rose by 4.1% to an estimated Sin$ 5.6 billion, contributing approximately 25% of total tourism receipts. There was also robust performance in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry, which saw a 46% year-on-year growth in the number of conventions, conferences and tradeshows in 2011. Key events also demonstrated strong growth with increased attendance and participation. “We are proud that we have maintained our appeal to global businesses as a premier hub in the Asia Pacific region. Our success can be attributed to several factors: a vibrant eco-system that nurtures business events of exceptional quality, the dynamic growth in Asia, and most importantly, the dedication of our MICE industry partners,” said Ms Neeta Lachmandas, Assistant Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). “Looking ahead, Singapore aims to continue leveraging the growing opportunities in Asia and our strong knowledge network to further strengthen our position as a preferred MICE destination. Singapore strives to differentiate itself by co-creating and developing a strong network of business events within Singapore’s key priority industries. Through close collaboration with professional industry partners and sustained efforts to develop the capabilities of Singapore’s key industry clusters such as biomedical and healthcare; infocomm technologies; environment and energy; and banking and finance, STB serves to attract and develop flagship MICE events of international standing that reinforce Singapore’s attractiveness as a leading MICE city.” Inaugural events that made Singapore a preferred launch-pad to tap onto Asia’s growth include Cruise Shipping Asia 2011, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Global Aviation Human Capital Summit, and ScreenSingapore. Other key conferences such as Music Matters and Digital Matters and Asia Smart Grid gathered business and opinion leaders in their respective industries. The year also saw the securing of 17 new world congresses for Singapore’s line up of events from 2012 to 2016. These include the 52nd ACI World Congress in 2013, the World Federation of Engineering Organisations Congress 2013 and the 36th World Diamond Congress in 2013 and the International Congress of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy 2015. At the same time, Singapore continued to welcome high-level assemblies and C-suite level events such as the IATA Annual General Meeting, Million Dollar Round Table Experience meeting, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Asian Stars Conference 2011, Deutsche Bank-DB Access Conference 2011, Currency Conference and the Russia Singapore Business Forum. TravelRave TravelRave 2012, one of Asia’s most comprehensive travel trade festivals, brings together many of the top minds and opinion leaders of the Asian travel and tourism industry to network, exchange strategic insights and discuss new opportunities for collaboration and investment, across seven events held over five days from 15 – 19 October. The latest event to be added to the TravelRave umbrella - which some say is already too crowded - is Hotel Technology 2012, which will be co-located with Asia Pacific’s Tourism Destination Investment Conference. Hotel Technology 2012 will feature a full day conference and discuss the latest trends in hotel technology, from mobile device support and in-room innovations, to increasing customer satisfaction through the smart use of technology. In addition, this year’s TTG Travel Experts Conference @ ITB Asia returns as a full day event, after a half day run last year. The event promises to deliver practical tips and tangible learning points that travel professionals in the region can apply to their businesses to enhance competitiveness and elevate success. Hotel Technology 2012 and the TTG Travel Experts Conference @ITB Asia join TravelRave’s anchor events Asia Travel Leaders Summit, ITB Asia, Web in Travel, Aviation Outlook Asia, Asia Pacific Tourism Destination Investment Conference, and Singapore Experience Awards.