Industry Voices 

10 ways to be a MICE winner: A MICE focus group suggests how Singapore can remain a winner
 
A recent MICE focus group, organized by the Marina Mandarin Singapore, came up with 10 'commandments' on how Singapore could remain a winner in the high-yield Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions segment.

The group, comprising key private sector players and representatives from the Singapore Tourism Board’s BTMICE (Business Travel, Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions) division, came up with these recommendations after first deliberating on the issues and concerns facing the industry.

Mr Aloysius Arlando, Assistant Chief Executive of BTMICE at the STB, welcomed the views expressed by the participants: ‘Constructive discussions such as this help the STB find out from the ground what industry players need and see as being most relevant to them and their business.

‘It is by keeping these exchanges open, honest and constructive that Singapore will be able to continually improve its BTMICE sector and so keep Singapore a top-of-mind destination.

‘The STB has just launched a BTMICE scheme and marketing initiative, 'BE in Singapore', that we hope will attract more people to Singapore for BTMICE travel and keep the BTMICE sector thriving.’

1. Don’t just compete, cooperate
It was acknowledged that Singapore has to live with the realities of the competition coming from markets such as China, India and Thailand. It has to compete with them, but it should also find ways of cooperating with them. Singapore needs to grow its ‘market size’ by aligning itself with its neighbours and playing up its position as the business hub of Asia, the group urged.

2. A question of incentives
While exhibitions are moving to China and India, lured by the market size, some are moving to Thailand because of attractive government incentives. 'Can Singapore offer similar incentives to exhibition owners,' the group asked?

3. Bring back the buyers
Further on exhibitions, the key question is: How do you bring back the buyers?  Singapore needs to come up with creative strategies to do this, the group said. One suggestion was to look at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council model where buyers are offered a seamless booking service through the website, making it easy for them to book flight and hotel room in one click.

‘We need hotels and airlines to come together to offer seamless flow to our customers,’ was one comment.

4. Make Singapore the ‘Rolex’ of destinations
‘People in Singapore lack confidence, we are always ready to cut price and not sell the proposition,’ said one participant.

There was a suggestion to make Singapore a place people aspire to come to. ‘Don’t sell cheap, let’s create the X factor, let’s spin like Dubai,’ was the comment.

The Singapore industry needs to have the confidence in their own destination brand values, and the commitment to sell in line with that premium positioning. That way, it doesn’t have to worry about whether its competitors are cheaper or whether the markets are bigger – because the people who come do so for the prestige factor.

5. Set a clear vision-mision for Singapore MICE
‘Singapore has what it takes to be a real player, a conduit of business in Asia Pacific. We need a vision-mission for the MICE segment and we need the buy-in of constituents,’ said one participant.

Such a vision-mission which has the buy-in of all players would give clear direction to individual parties such as hoteliers to enable them to commit to the MICE segment – in terms of giving room allotments where necessary.

6. Work towards greater industry integration
The industry needs more strategic alliances to sell Singapore first before selling individual properties. ‘We need to work together to be more creative and to be more flexible,’ said one participant.

7. Greater focus on mid-sized events
Another suggestion: Singapore needs to bring in more, mid-sized events, instead of concentrating on a few mega events. This would help the industry balance the peaks and troughs.

8. Send out ‘Singapore is not always full’ message
There is concern that the perception that ‘Singapore is always full’ is taking root. There needs to be a concerted communications effort to correct this perception and encourage planners to bring in events during off-peak periods, the group urged.

9. Look after our repeat customers
Another recommendation: Identify the top customers who have held events in Singapore over a period of years and reward them with attractive incentives to bring them back.

10. Yes, it’s market dynamics, but keep in mind the long-term interests
One message to hoteliers was to be flexible with rate increases and allotments. While all agreed that it was market forces and supply and demand factors that determined rate increases and hotel allotment policies, the group cautioned that Singapore’s long-term interests must also be safe-guarded.

A happy balance needs to be found to ensure all players profit in the business, but not to the detriment of Singapore’s long-term positioning as one of Asia’s top MICE destinations.

More articles on Business Travel and MICE in this issue

‘BE in Singapore’, STB says to business events organisers
The STB's Business Travel and MICE division launches a new initiative to help keep Singapore ahead of competition.

STB Voices: 'We want you to BE in Singapore'
An interview with Mr Aloysius Arlando, Assistant Chief Executive of BTMICE at STB about the future of Business Travel and MICE in Singapore.