SACEOS, STB, WeChat collaborate on programme to better engage Chinese MICE travellers

From left: WeChat's Eagle Yi; SACEOS' Veemal Gungadin; WeChat's Juliet Zhu; STB's Andrew Phua; and WeChat's Fengming Ma

On November 10, the Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS), Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and WeChat came together to launch the MeetSG WeChat Mini Program (MeetSG) at the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre.

This makes Singapore the first country in the world to introduce such an initiative targeting Chinese MICE travellers. With MeetSG, a library of information about Singapore as a MICE destination, business events and meetings community, as well as the city’s offerings, will be made available to over one billion monthly active users on WeChat, in their native language.

From left: WeChat’s Eagle Yi; SACEOS’ Veemal Gungadin; WeChat’s Juliet Zhu; STB’s Andrew Phua; and WeChat’s Fengming Ma

Developed in partnership with WeMeet, MeetSG will enable MICE event organisers to connect with their Chinese attendees by offering information including event schedules and venue, news and push notifications. It also allows Chinese MICE travellers to access up-to-date leisure information and offers – such as suggested places to eat and shop, as well as options to purchase tickets to tours and entertainment at partner venues, including Gardens by the Bay, Sports Hub, Sentosa and Faber Peak Singapore – to enhance their overall visitor experience in Singapore.

MeetSG, targeted at end-users attending business events, complements the first MICE WeChat Mini Program developed by STB’s Greater China office in 2018, which functions as a mobile planner guide for travel intermediaries and corporates. The MICE WeChat Mini Program allows access to Singapore’s MICE information such as MICE venues, itinerary ideas and suggestions, a directory of ground handlers, and information on STB’s MICE incentive schemes.

As a start, the MeetSG WeChat Mini Program will be piloted with a few upcoming business events in Singapore which attract a significant proportion of Chinese MICE delegates. They include Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SFF x SWITCH), in November 2019; Asia TV Forum & Market, in December 2019; Singapore Airshow, in February 2020; and Asia Pacific Maritime, in March 2020.

Melissa Ow, deputy chief executive, STB, stressed in a statement that China is an “important visitor market”. She noted: “We believe this initiative will also give us invaluable insights into the Chinese MICE visitors, which will in turn enable us to continually engage with them and enrich their consumer experience.”

A WeChat Go Workshop will also be held today in partnership with Suntec and the Mini Program partner, WeMeet. The workshop aims to introduce the MeetSG WeChat Mini Program to stakeholders from Singapore’s business events industry.

In 2018, China was Singapore’s top visitor arrival market. It grew by six per cent year-on-year to record more than 3.4 million Chinese arrivals into Singapore. In terms of tourism receipts, Chinese visitors were also top spenders in Singapore in 2018, contributing over S$3.9 billion (US$2.9 billion), representing an increase of one per cent year-on-year.

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