Organisers of MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) events now have more opportunities to enjoy an attractive package of benefits when they choose to hold their events in Singapore.

The Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) Make It Singapore campaign, an initiative to attract more MICE business into Singapore, has been extended for another year. The new campaign, Make It Singapore Plus, offers enhanced criteria which will make it more attractive for event organisers to hold their events in Singapore. To qualify for the campaign’s incentives, event organisers must confirm their events in Singapore by 31 December 2005, and the event must be held here by end 2007.

The Make It Singapore campaign, first launched in November 2003, successfully attracted about 40 major events in 2004. Some of them have already taken place; others are scheduled to be held here by end 2007. Collectively, they will generate 60,000 visitor nights and an estimated S$50 million in tourism receipts, said the Board.

Some of these events include:

• The Global Brand Forum, which featured renowned speakers such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and director Francis Ford Coppola. The event took place on 16-17 August 2004 and was attended by 450 foreign delegates.

• Nortel Networks Sales and Training Rally, a corporate meeting which took place in January 2004, was attended by 540 foreign delegates.

• The Amway India incentive group, one of the biggest incentive groups from India with 1,400 incentive travellers, which came in November 2004.

• The Asia Pacific Low Cost Airline Symposium, which took place on 12-14 February 2004 with 80 foreign delegates.

• The International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT) and the International Conference on Advanced Materials (ICAM). These conferences are scheduled to take place in July 2005 with 1,500 foreign delegates.

• The Singapore International Tropical Garden Show, an exhibition slated for 2006, which is expected to bring in 40,000 foreign delegates.

In addition, STB is also actively cultivating another 20 events, which are leads arising from the campaign.

The original S$15-million Make It Singapore campaign aimed to strengthen Singapore’s position as Asia’s premier MICE destination by attracting more international MICE events to Singapore. The year-long campaign encouraged MICE decision-makers to hold their events in Singapore by offering them incentives in the form of complimentary hotel rooms, special rates for venue rentals and travel on Singapore Airlines as well as STB’s support for bidding, marketing and promotion costs. To enjoy the incentives, decision-makers had to confirm their event in Singapore by 31 December 2004, and the event had to take place in Singapore by 31 December 2007.

What’s in store with Make It Singapore Plus

To build on the positive response to the Make It Singapore campaign, STB will be extending the campaign for one year, with revised criteria which make it easier for event organisers to leverage on the campaign’s package of incentives. One of the main differences is the use of visitor nights, instead of room nights, as a qualifying criterion that event organisers must fulfil in order to enjoy the campaign’s incentives. This change of criteria makes it easier for event organisers to qualify for the incentives offered.

("Visitor nights" refer to the number of people in the group (group size) multiplied by the number of nights’ stay in Singapore. "Room nights" refers to the total number of rooms booked by the group multiplied by the number of nights’ stay in Singapore.)

In addition, Make It Singapore Plus lowers the previous minimum criterion for corporate meetings and incentive groups from 400 room nights to 150 visitor nights. The programme also offers more attractive benefits, including better event enhancement value-adds in the form of videography services, provision of welcome gifts for foreign delegates, team-building activities for corporate meetings and incentive groups, as well as publicity support.

STB aims to generate 100,000 visitor nights and an estimated S$100 million in tourism receipts with events pulled in through Make It Singapore Plus.

Mr Aloysius Arlando, STB’s Acting Assistant Chief Executive (Business Travel and MICE), said: "We are encouraged by the positive response to Make It Singapore over the past year, and we are confident that Make It Singapore Plus will be an invaluable tool in our efforts to secure even more major international MICE events for Singapore."

He added: "The BT-MICE segment is an important tourism segment and will be a key area of focus under Singapore’s Tourism 2015 vision. Going forward, we will continue to build on Singapore’s inherent strengths as a premier business and MICE destination, enhance our MICE infrastructure and capabilities at home, while intensifying our channel development and marketing efforts in-market to cultivate Singapore’s status as Asia’s leading exhibition and convention city."

Overseas event organisers can contact any of STB’s regional offices for consultation on how they can leverage on the Make It Singapore Plus campaign. More information on the campaign’s specific criteria can be found at www.makeitsingapore.com