Singapore ranked top international meeting city in the world

The news couldn't have come at a better time.

Even as Singapore was holding its second Singapore Business Events Awards and playing host to the panel of judges, the Union of International Association (UIA) released its latest ranking of top cities for 2007, with Singapore ranked at the top for the first time in history.

In the UIA's International Meetings Statistics 2007 report, Singapore leapfrogged two notches to clinch the top position, beating perennial favourites Paris (ranked 2nd) and Vienna (3rd), giving its ambition to be an exchange capital of the world a boost.

"The UIA congratulates Singapore on the steady growth in the number of international meetings it has hosted over the past few years, a growth that results from and reflects the focus, quality and creativity of the Singapore meetings industry," said Mr Jacques de Mevius, Secretary-General, UIA.

Singapore also topped the rankings in Asia, as Asia's top country and city for meetings, a position it has held for the last 24 consecutive years for the latter.

As a destination, Singapore accounted for 22.5% of the meetings held in the continent in 2007. Over the past 10 years, Singapore has also seen a tremendous growth of 256% in international meetings staged here.

The good news crowns years of hard work in building up Singapore's position in the international meetings circuit.

Last year, Singapore hosted 465 international meetings that met UIA's qualifying criteria, representing a significant 56% growth over 2006.

Most notable among these were The 3rd Hague International Model of United Nations, the 27th International Epilepsy Congress, the 2nd World Glaucoma Congress & Exhibition, the 18th Wonca World Conference 2007, and International Bar Association Conference 2007 which cumulatively drew close to 12,700 delegates to converge in Singapore.

Singapore's achievements in the sector can also be attributed to a new business strategy launched two years ago by the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB).

A S$170 million 'BE in Singapore' or 'Business Events in Singapore' incentive scheme was introduced to enable the industry to bid for, attract and anchor a critical mass of business events to sustain a robust business pipeline.

"Through this new business approach, we have been able to support, attract and anchor some 450 business events. This has translated into a bumper year of high-calibre business events in 2007, including Cityscape Asia, BioMedical Asia, Carbon Forum Asia and the inaugural Singapore International Water Week," said Mr Aloysius Arlando, Assistant Chief Executive (Business Travel and MICE Group), STB.

Last year, business and MICE visitors accounted for close to three million of total visitor arrivals, and contributed over $5 billion or 40% of our total tourism receipts, "a new record for Singapore", added Mr Arlando.