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Sep 26, 2007

Best city in Asia to meet? It's still S'pore

Globally, Republic up to 3rd spot after Paris and Vienna for Mice events, says think-tank

By Lim Wei Chean

SINGAPORE remains Asia's top city when it comes to hosting business meetings and major events.

It also climbed up one rung in the world ladder to third place - behind the likes of first-placed Paris, and Vienna.

This is according to an international report produced by a think-tank in Belgium - which ranked the cities by the number of big events they managed to attract last year.

The report by non-governmental organisation Union of International Association is closely watched by tourism officials around the world, as it is one of the few global indicators as to who is getting the largest piece of the lucrative international meetings pie.

The report also showed that Singapore's share of the meetings business doubled over the last five years.

From doctors gathering to hear about the latest medical innovations to grey-haired retirees travelling to understand more about the art of baking, these are all part of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions business, also known as the Mice industry.

In Singapore, it is already a multibillion-dollar business: Last year, the Republic had close to three million Mice tourists, and they spent about $4 billion here.

According to the international rankings, Paris ranked at the top of the charts while Singapore pipped Brussels to third spot.

Industry players here say that last year's International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings, which brought in 16,000 delegates, played a big role in improving the Republic's stature in the world Mice game.

For the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), the latest ranking was the icing on the cake for an already spectacular year for the Mice segment.

According to STB's assistant chief executive for business travel and the Mice group, Mr Aloysius Arlando, this is a strong signal that the 'buoyant outlook' for the industry was set to continue.

And the bookings look promising. For instance, Suntec Singapore - which hosted the IMF meetings - had a total of 1,176 events last year, of which 83 were international ones. Going forward, it expects to host more than 1,300 events this year, of which 107 are international ones.

Its chief operating officer Pieter Idenburg said Singapore is now 'bearing the fruits' of the marketing strategies it embarked upon a few years ago.

STB has stated publicly that the aim is for the Mice segment to bring in $10.5 billion in tourist dollars by 2015.

weichean@sph.com.sg