S'pore Ranks Third In World For Meetings Held Last Year

Source : The Business Times, September 26, 2007

SINGAPORE has risen to be ranked as third city in the world for meetings held last year, up from its fourth position in 2005, as shown by international meetings statistics compiled by the Union of International Associations (UIA).

Paris was declared first and Vienna second. In the report, Singapore was ranked Top Country for Meetings in Asia for the 24th year running.

The city hosted 298 meetings in 2006, which was a 62 per cent increase over 2005. Tourism receipts totalled $4 billion last year, which shows that the republic is on the right track to meet targets set by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) of $10.5 billion in tourism receipts by 2015.

Last year's big events included the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in September, which drew some 16,000 foreign delegates.

On a regional level, Singapore hosted 22 per cent of all meetings held in Asia in 2006. In the last five years, Singapore has more than doubled the number of meetings held here, even though the number of meetings held in Asia declined by 2 per cent over those years.

Singapore Tourism Board(STB)'s media release
http://app.stb.com.sg/asp/new/new03a.asp?id=7583

Other efforts to expand the MICE sector by the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau - a group within the STB - include their new business strategy, which involves working with other Singapore government agencies to create, attract or grow business events. These events would ideally focus on Singapore's fundamental economic drivers and initiatives, complement the development plan of these sectors, generate buzz and bolster the strategic position of Singapore as the exchange capital for each cluster.

'These rankings by the well-respected UIA further validate and reinforce the strong performance of the industry last year,' said Aloysius Arlando, assistant chief executive (Business Travel and MICE Group) for STB.