Singapore remains Asia's top convention city for 2011
by Cheryl Tay
Singapore has retained its position as Asia's top convention city for 10 straight years, according to the latest global rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association.
Singapore is also the only Asian city among the top five convention cities worldwide, alongside Vienna, Barcelona, Paris and Berlin, since 2006.
The ranking comes after the country saw a record high 13.2 million visitors in 2011, exceeding its estimates of between 12 million and 13 million tourist arrivals. The number of business visitors also climbed 2.6 percent to 3.2 million from 2010, and formed 24 percent of total visitorship to the country. Expenses by these business visitors also increased 4.1 percent to an average of S$5.6 billion, contributing around 25 percent of total tourism receipts.
Meanwhile, the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry also saw robust performance, with the number of such events increasing 46 percent year-on-year in 2011.
"We are proud that we have maintained our appeal to global businesses as a premier hub in the Asia Pacific region," said Neeta Lachmandas, Assistant Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board.
"Our success can be attributed to several factors: a vibrant eco-system that nurtures business events of exceptional quality, the dynamic growth in Asia, and most importantly, the dedication of our MICE industry partners."
Looking ahead, Lachmandas said that Singapore aims to continually leverage "the growing opportunities in Asia and our strong knowledge network to further strengthen our position as a preferred MICE destination."
"Singapore strives to differentiate itself by co-creating and developing a strong network of business events within Singapore's key priority industries," she said.
"Through close collaboration with professional industry partners and sustained efforts to develop the capabilities of Singapore's key industry clusters such as biomedical and healthcare; infocomm technologies; environment and energy; and banking and finance, STB serves to attract and develop flagship MICE events of international standing that reinforce Singapore's attractiveness as a leading MICE city."
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