MICE Asia Congress expects strong show

According to organisers, 50 per cent of vendors have returned for this year's event. Raffles International Hotels and Resorts director of global sales Asia Pacific Shiela Gomez, said: "We certainly achieved our ROI for last year's event and expect this year's event to be even better. "Last year, the leads added up to US$617,000 with Singapore having a good chunk of these leads." Supporting DMC East West Executive Travellers said it clinched US$309,000 in business from last year's event for its Malaysia office and the same amount for its Singapore office. Event organiser Naseba expects between 170 and 200 corporate buyers and 45 suppliers this year, a jump from last year's figure of 120 buyers and 20 suppliers. About 20 per cent of the buyers will be from Europe and 20 per cent from India. Sellers are charged US$7,000 each to participate and are guaranteed at least ten one-on-one meetings with buyers. Included in the price are airport transfers, meals, a conference programme pass and a list of corporate buyers that is supplied one month before the event. Besides a networking cocktail reception and welcome dinner, the second day's dinner will start with a cable car ride to Sentosa. This will be followed by rides on the Sky Tower and the Luge, and a barbecue seafood buffet at the beach. Naseba estimates that the annual spending budget of buyers at the event will amount to approximately US$2 million per company. Attendees include Toyota Asia, Nokia, Toshiba, Honda Motors, China Telecom and Computer Associates.