SINGAPORE is proudly hanging onto its crown as the world’s foremost city and country for international meetings, titles the city-state is holding for the third and seventh year running respectively.
This is according to the Union of International Associations’ (UIA) 2013 Global Rankings.
UIA reports that some 994 meetings held in Singapore qualified under UIA’s criteria for international meetings – a 4.4 per cent increase over 2012’s 952 – and thereby forming 9.4 per cent of UIA’s database of meetings.
In particular, the Lion City garnered praise for its excellent infrastructure, efficiency, vibrant business ecosystem, knowledge networks and strategic location in Asia.
Second runner-up country, the US, recorded 799 meetings, while the Brussels took second place for top international meetings city with 436 meetings.
Singapore played host to notable events last year such as the IFLA World Library and Information Congress, the 60th Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Annual Conference, the Amway Japan Leadership Achievement Seminar, the World Engineers’ Summit as well as the World Retail Congress Asia Pacific.
Singapore has six world congresses in its pipeline to date – the World Congress on Brain Mapping & Therapeutics 2016 and World Congress of the International Society for Diseases of the Esophagus 2016; the inaugural Asian edition of SpineWeek; the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference 2015; the Regional Dermatology Conference 2016; and the Asia Pacific Congress of Hypertension 2017.
Neeta Lachmandas, assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said the MICE industry remained an integral component of Singapore’s tourism sector.
“The overall Economic Impact Analysis (examining the extent to which the MICE industry supports Singapore’s economy) of MICE activities is approximately S$3.7 billion (US$3 billion) or 1.1 per cent of Singapore GDP in 2012. This is an increase from 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2008.
“The Meetings segment contributes the highest proportion at 55.4 per cent of total economic impact. Beyond the direct economic benefits, MICE also contributed in terms of networking opportunities, branding of Singapore and cross-industry skill sharing.”
To further build on Singapore’s strengths as a MICE destination, STB is rolling out a training curriculum based on STB’s Sustainability Guidelines in September this year, in partnership with SACEOS.
