SINGAPORE WON BIDS FOR OVER 100 CONFERENCES FOR NEXT DECADE

Singapore has won bids for more than 100 international conferences and meetings for the next 10 years. These will be attended by about 85,000 delegates from the biomedical, info-technology, business, and the arts sectors.

Singapore has also retained her position as the world's top fifth convention city, in the latest ranking for the year 2000 by the Union des Association Internationales (UAI) of Belgium. Singapore joins Paris, Brussels, London and Vienna as the world's favourite international meeting cities.

These achievements are by far, among the brightest news for the local tourism industry this year.

Mr Yeo Khee Leng, Singapore Tourism Board's Chief Executive, said: "UAI's ranking of Singapore as world's top fifth for the second successive year is indeed a great compliment to the MICE industry of Singapore. We are the first Asian city to have ever made it to the top five, and it is through the sheer hard work of all in the industry that Singapore has retained that position."

Conferences confirmed for this year include the prestigious Forbes Global CEO Conference, staged for the first time in Singapore this September.

Other major conferences are SWIFT International Banking Operational Seminar (SIBOS), Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences World Congress 2001 and BioMedical Asia 2001 Symposium and Exhibition.

The Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB), a division of the Singapore Tourism Board, plays a pivotal role in bringing some of these key conferences to Singapore.

SECB assisted in clinching the following conferences: Teochew International Convention (TIC) in 2003, the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) General Assembly and World Tunnel Congress in 2004, the 12th World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles (WASBE) Conference in 2005, 18th World Organisation of National Colleges, Academies, Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians (WONCA) World Conference in 2007. These conferences are expected to bring about 18,000 delegates to Singapore.

Out of the 7.69 million visitor arrivals to Singapore in the year 2000, over 210,000 indicated that they were here to attend a MICE event. This is an encouraging 13.8 per cent increase from the same period in the previous year.