Large Number of Business Events in July Boosts Singapore's Visitor Arrivals

In the month of July, Singapore hosted several notable business events, which drew one of the largest number of business visitors to Singapore in a single month, re-affirming the city-state’s position as one of the most popular Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destinations in the region and the world.

Among the business events that Singapore hosted in July are the 27th International Epilepsy Congress, Herbalife Asia Pacific Extravaganza 2007, World Glaucoma Congress 2007, 18th Wonca World Conference on Family Medicine (WONCA), 2nd Conference of the Asian Society for Pigment Cell Research, Asia Pacific Congress of Bronchology and the 41st Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine, Singapore Pharmacy Congress 2007, and the Third Asia Autoimmunity Forum (AAF) 2007, to name but a few.

Together, these events attracted close to 25,000 foreign visitors, contributing at least Sin$ 40 million to Singapore’s total Tourism Receipts. These events encompassed all four segments of the MICE industry including Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions.

“The high concentration of business events in the month of July reaffirms Singapore’s position as a premier destination for high-level intellectual exchange and networking opportunities among medical and biomedical scientific communities. Our strategic location and extensive connectivity, professional MICE industry, excellent infrastructure and strong knowledge-based economy all combine to make Singapore an ideal destination for MICE event organisers and visitors from all over the world.

“Leveraging STB’s Strategic Cluster Approach, we will continue to build on the momentum of working with Singapore Inc government agencies and private sector industry partners to create, develop and attract more business events which will provide the platform for intellectual exchange and collaboration thus adding impetus to drive Singapore’s key economic sectors,” said Mr Aloysius Arlando, Assistant Chief Executive, Business Travel and MICE Group, Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

One of the first business events that took place in the month of July was the 27th International Epilepsy Congress (8 – 12 July). One of the largest medical conventions in the world dedicated to epilepsy, the 27th International Epilepsy Congress was jointly hosted by the Singapore Epilepsy Society (SEC) and the Singapore Epilepsy Foundation (SEF), and organised by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE). Both ILAE and IBE are non-profit organisations with official links to the World Health Organization.

“Singapore is an ideal venue for international congresses as it’s easily accessible with a state-of-the-art telecommunications network and an excellent infrastructure. There are countless hotels to suit all budgets and cosmopolitan cuisine to suit all tastes thanks to its international makeup. It is a welcoming, clean, and above all, safe place, something that is of paramount importance to today’s international business traveller,” said Mr Richard Holmes, International Director of Meetings, ILAE and IBE.

The Congress brought together clinicians and researchers from different continents, facilitating the exchange of knowledge about this medical condition. Participants shared scientific and educational programmes that covered clinical updates and treatments. The programme also catered to clinicians who are non-epileptologists and allied health professionals who provide epilepsy care.

Herbalife Asia Pacific Extravaganza 2007 (18 – 22 July) was the largest corporate meeting that Singapore has ever hosted with close to 16,000 Herbalife delegates from 14 countries in Asia Pacific who congregated here for a series of workshops and meetings.

Herbalife is a global network marketing company focused on weight management, personal care products and nutritional supplements. As one of the world’s largest network marketing companies, Herbalife posted annual retail sales of Sin$ 4.6 billion (US$ 3 billion) in 2006.

Singapore has a long-standing relationship with Herbalife. In 2003, Singapore was the host country for Herbalife Asia Pacific Extravaganza 2003 which drew 13,000 top distributors in Asia for four days of meeting and training sessions. In 2005, Herbalife’s World Team School was also held in Singapore and 5,000 of Herbalife’s top distributors attended the event.

“Herbalife chose Singapore for a variety of reasons. One is because of the success we’ve had with our past events such as the 2003 Extravaganza and 2005 World Team School. Singapore is also an ideal location because of its strong infrastructure and connectivity which allows us to run large-scale events such as these. Furthermore, the support from the Singapore Tourism Board and various other entities has been a key factor in our decision to hold our events here. Our distributors also love Singapore as it is an attractive destination with a myriad of tourist activities that brings out the best lifestyle experiences,” Dato Dr. Ronie Tan, Vice President and Managing Director of Herbalife Malaysia and Singapore.

World Glaucoma Congress 2007 (18 – 21 July) was held at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. The event was organised by AIGS, an independent global organisation focused on glaucoma science and care. This event is one of the largest glaucoma congresses in the world and the event brought together top glaucoma experts from around the globe who presented new developments in glaucoma diagnosis and therapy to their peers and general ophthalmologist interested in glaucoma.

The 18th Wonca World Conference for Family Medicine (WONCA) 2007 (24 – 27 July), consisted of keynote lectures, plenary sessions, scientific symposia and a trade exhibition. The World Organization of Family Doctors or WONCA has a total membership of 200,000 general practitioners and family physicians in 79 countries.

The theme of WONCA 2007 was “Genomics and Family Medicine” and the event provided updates on the latest advances that genomics and biomedical sciences have to offer. Renowned keynote speakers for the conference included Dr Shigeru Omi, Regional Director of Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation and Dr Francis Collins, Director of National Human Genome Research Institute; plenary speaker included Professor Edison Liu, Executive Director of Genome Institute of Singapore, Dr Spencer Wells who is the lead researcher driving the National Geographic and IBM collaborative project on tracking the transmigration of the human genome out of Africa amongst other experts.

See other recent news regarding: Singapore, Visitor Arrivals