SINGAPORE RANKED TOP FIVE CONVENTION CITY IN THE WORLD

Singapore is now the world's fifth top convention city the highest ranking ever achieved by the Republic. Singapore also retains the reigning position as Asia's number one meeting place for the 17th successive year.

These are the latest results released by the Belgium-based Union des Association Internationales (UAI), which conducts annual statistical surveys to rank the convention cities of the world. UAI,s stringent criteria admit only those events that are organised or sponsored by international organisations which appear in the Yearbook of International Organisations and in the International Congress Calendar.

Last year, Singapore hosted 140 meetings which met UAI's criteria. The Republic joins Paris, Brussels, Vienna and London as the world's favourite meeting venues.

Mr Yeo Khee Leng, Singapore Tourism Board's Chief Executive, said: "This is a tremendous achievement for Singapore. Our task now is to ensure Singapore maintains the ranking among the world's top five and that is a challenge we intend to meet."

"Our ongoing intensive marketing campaign, GlobalMeet Singapore, has worked well to enhance our position as a leading conventions city."

GlobalMeet Singapore, launched in 1998, is a three-year marketing campaign by the Singapore Exhibitions and Conventions Bureau (SECB) aimed at intensifying efforts to establish Singapore among the world's top 10 convention cities.

The campaign has contributed to last year's impressive performance, with 7.8 per cent jump in total number of events staged in Singapore to 3,245.

These results have put Singapore back on track after two relatively sluggish years of regional economic pressures.

Last year, the number of incentive groups which came to Singapore rose by 4 per cent to 2,314 over 1998. These included the large scale and prestigious groups from National Cash Registers (2,800 delegates) and Sun Microsystems (4,000 delegates).

Number of conventions increased 23.8 per cent to 880, with the major league events such as the 17,000-strong Rotary International Convention and the Orient & Southeast Asian Lions which brought in 7,000 delegates.

Singapore's meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry looks set for another successful year.

Major exhibitions held this year include landmark shows such as the Asian Aerospace, Food&Hotel Asia, CommunicAsia and Tax Free Asia Pacific.

CommunicAsia, Asia Pacific's largest communications and IT event which took place in June, brought in 16,000 overseas visitors. Food&Hotel Asia generated 22,000 foreign participants.

Between January and June, the exhibition business generated 68.6 per cent more foreign visitors compared with corresponding periods last year.

The number of conferences each with more than 1,000 delegates have doubled this year over last to 10. The medical profession is also convening in Singapore in a big way. Confirmed for the year are eight large meeting groups, each with more than 1,000 delegates. The inaugural International Dental Exhibition and Meeting (IDEM) brought in 4,000 delegates in April. IDEM has also confirmed Singapore as the venue for its conventions in 2002, 2004 and 2006.

Singapore's fervent IT environment has also created a lure for major IT companies to stage meetings here. Six large meetings by IT companies have since been confirmed, bringing in close to 3,500 overseas delegates between September this year and July 2001. Four of these meetings are being staged in Asia for the first time.