Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 September 2007 6:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Singapore is among the world's top three cities for meetings based on the Union of International Associations' (UIA) latest rankings.

In the UIA's International Meetings Statistics 2006 report, Singapore moved up one place from 2005 to third position in the 'Top international meeting city' category, placing it among the top three for the first time. Paris is currently ranked number one and Vienna is at the second spot.

At the same time, Singapore topped the rankings in Asia, as Asia's top country and city for meetings. It leapfrogged from fourth to first position, as Asia's top country for meetings, while maintaining its standing as Asia's top city for meetings, a position it has held for the past 23 years.

According to an official release, last year Singapore hosted 298 meetings that met UIA's qualifying criteria, representing a whopping 62 per cent growth over 2005.

Most notable among these were the 2006 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in September. The two occasions saw about 16,000 foreign delegates converge in Singapore to attend various meetings and business events, states an official release.

Singapore's share in Asian market has reportedly doubled and it accounts for 22 per cent of all meetings held in Asia in 2006.

As part of the efforts to spur the growth of the sector, the SECB launched the "BE in Singapore" or "Business Events in Singapore" incentive scheme in August 2006.

The incentive scheme, developed in consultation with the industry, enables the local MICE industry to competitively bid for and attract a critical mass of business events to sustain a robust business pipeline.

The SECB has also adopted a new business strategy which entails close partnership with other Singapore government agencies in growing, attracting and creating business events that are centred on the nation's key economic drivers and initiatives, complementing the development plan of these sectors, creating buzz and strengthening the strategic position of Singapore as the exchange capital for each cluster.

STB assistant chief executive (business travel and MICE group) Aloysius Arlando said, "These rankings by the well-respected Union of International Associations further validate and reinforce the strong performance of the industry last year which accounted for 28 per cent or 3 million of total visitor arrivals to Singapore, and 35 per cent or SGD 4 billion of total tourism receipts."

"This is a resounding testament of the strong cooperation and close partnership between the public and private sector, including government agencies and the MICE industry players, and I'm confident that the buoyant outlook of the industry will continue, especially with the vibrant calendar of business events in the pipeline, and many exciting tourism developments in the coming years," he added.

Founded in 1907, the Union of International Associations is an independent, non-governmental and non-profit body whose key activities include consolidating statistics on international organizations and their international meetings.

For the last 50 years, the UIA has analysed data and prepared statistics on international meetings that have taken place worldwide in the preceding year. This work is based on routine research and surveys undertaken by the UIA. The merit of the UIA statistics is that they have been compiled over several decades from the same sources and using consistent methods and criteria.