Singapore, the MICE City

(Originally published in September 2007)

Singapore raked in S$4 billion from the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) market in 2006. The International Congress and Convention Association ranked Singapore as the Top convention city in Asia for the eighth time.

Singapore’s excellent infrastructure and innovativeness in programme offerings are key success factors. Recognising its lack of beautiful beaches or exotic cultural experiences as compared to competitors in the region, Singapore ups the ante by developing two Integrated Resorts with convention and theme park facilities. To ensure long-term sustainability of its MICE industry, Singapore Tourism Board’s BE in Singapore scheme launched in 2006 has a S$170 million budget to help create, anchor and grow strategic business events.

Already, Singapore has successfully wooed mega events such as the F1 Grand Prix, ITB Asia and FDI World Dental Federation that will each bring in more than 10,000 visitors to the country in 2008 and beyond.

This is of course good news for the country’s hospitality and retail industry. However, for event organisers, this could be a double-edged sword. While some events may cash-in on the excitement built around these mega shows, others may be forced to look elsewhere to host their events. This is due to the lack of hotel rooms, function space, and the high-handed manner in which the hotel association or mega show organisers control room charges. Hotel prices are already expected to be up by at least 30 per cent during the F1 Grand Prix period.

Memories of the 2006 IMF/World Bank Meeting in Singapore are still fresh: hyped-up demand for hotel rooms, over-blocked rooms, high controlled room rates, snooty hotel sales staff, and then a sudden release of rooms into the market weeks before the event at lower prices. Organisers of smaller events are squeezed during negotiation stage to block rooms at exorbitant rates, while quizzed at the end by attendees about the discrepancies in room rates.

Nevertheless, these are but minor humps in Singapore’s road towards excellence in the worldwide MICE market. They are not something that cannot be ironed out. In Singapore, when there is a political will, there is a way.