Singapore is Asia's top convention city again;

The Amsterdam-based International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) has ranked Singapore as the world's second Top Convention City for the second consecutive year. Singapore has also maintained itsposition as Asia's Top Convention City for the seventh time since 1995 when ICCA launched its annual global rankings.

The accolades are in recognition of the sterling growth in the number of international conferences staged in Singapore last year. Singapore hosted a total of 125 international conferences, representing anincrease of 20 percent over 2004.

Singapore's position as the world's second Top Convention City in 2005 is a distinction which places it alongside the top performing city, Vienna, which hosted 129 conventions, and Barcelona which clinched third spot with 116 conventions.

Said Aloysius Arlando, Assistant chief executive (Business Travel and MICE Group) STB, "We are honored to be ranked the number two Convention City in the World by ICCA, and to retain our top position in the Asian region. This is a strong testimony of Singapore's competitiveness as a MICE city in the global arena, and reinforces Singapore's position as a pre-eminent BTMICE destination. This accolade would nothave been possible without the close partnership between the Government and the industry to rally together to turn the Singapore Inc. approach into a key success factor."

"We are fully aware that competition is fiercely heating up and the STB is committed to working together with our industry partners to build up a robust pipeline of business events and maintain our leadership position," he added.

ICCA is one of the most prominent organizations in the world of international meetings. The ICCA rankings take into consideration business events that are organized on a regular basis, attract international visitors and which rotate among at least three different countries. Winning this award means that Singapore had managed to secure a critical mass of conventions with global profile.

The Business Travel and Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions (BTMICE) Group of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) hasbeen aggressively attracting and bidding for business events of suchcalibre, amidst competition with established and emerging players inthe region.

To ramp up its efforts to entrench awareness of Singapore as a premier MICE destination, STB will launch an aggressive marketing campaign in the second half of 2006. This will include direct marketing andpublicity campaigns, roadshows and MICE seminars organized together with industry partners and regional offices in key markets.

The campaign launch will coincide with the announcement of a new suite of BTMICE incentive schemes. The new incentive scheme promises to support the evolving events development needs of the MICE business while enhancing the existing benefits under "Make It Singapore Plus."


--- lifted from HOTELS Magazine