Singapore holds Asian crown and joins global top five cities - Oct 00

SINGAPORE Singapore has scooped top spot as Asia's best meeting place for the 17th successive year as well as climbing one place to the world's fifth most popular convention city.The accolades follow an annual industry survey conducted by the Belgium-based Union des Association Internationales (UAI). The 1999 UAI top five city list is headed by Paris, followed by Brussels, Vienna, London and then Singapore. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) chief executive Mr Yeo Khee Leng attributed the ranking improvement to the success of the STB's GlobalMeet Singapore campaign. "This is a tremendous achievement for Singapore. Our task now is to ensure we maintain the ranking among the world's top five, and that is a challenge we intend to meet," Mr Yeo said. "Our ongoing intensive marketing campaign has worked well to enhance our position as a leading convention city." Launched in 1998, GlobalMeet Singapore contributed to a 7.8% rise in the number of events staged in Singapore during last year. STB officials say this rise has put Singapore back on track after two relatively sluggish years during the Asian economic crisis. Last year the number of incentive groups that chose Singapore as a destination rose by 4% to 2,314, while the number of conventions jumped 23.8% to 880.