Singapore renews efforts to keep ahead - Sep 01

As the fifth most popular meeting destination in the world and as Asia's number one meeting destination for the 17th consecutive year, according to Union des Association Internationales, it would be understandable if Singapore sat back and enjoyed the fruits of existing business. But as all conference and meeting (C&M) planners know, for their clients to maintain strong levels of interest in a destination, continued marketing is essential. There is certainly no guarantee Singapore will remain at the top end of the scale. The question is how Singapore's C&M industry can continue to capture the attention of meeting planners and corporate clients. The Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau's (SECB) recently launched incentive travel marketing campaign "Incentive Isle Singapore" is one answer. Having identified tourism training and the conference, exhibition and incentive industry as key areas for future development, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the SECB is using this campaign to highlight the city-state's incentive options. The incentive side is just the beginning of this campaign, which was launched at this year's EIBTM show in Geneva, as the conference and exhibition arm will be launched later this year. Renewed interest in Singapore was reported from EIBTM. "Industry members reported they had received a significant number of queries, which, if confirmed, would bring in around US$11million worth of business to Singapore," STB assistant director of exhibitions and conventions Ms Elaine Ang says. Alongside the SECB's campaign, the Singapore Intelligence Centre (SIC) - the joint marketing venture between Suntec Singapore, seven neighbouring hotels and the STB - hopes to demonstrate the convenience of organising an event in Singapore. Gone are the days when countries or cities simply build a centre and expect delegates to come flooding in, especially as every major city in the world can offer substantial convention space. "If you had a convention centre 15 to 20 years ago it would have been an advantage for your destination, but not so these days," Suntec Singapore deputy general manager sales and marketing Mr Jim Papineau says. "There is a lot more competition coming up and so you always have to stay ahead. And it is not only the regional, but the global competition you face in this kind of business." The SIC partners have pooled their resources together to promote a "one-stop" C&M meeting district and to raise further awareness of Singapore as a C&M destination. The campaign will continue as competing destinations step up efforts to attract large regional events. Altogether, the SIC providers claim they are providing a major benefit in delivering a fully integrated infrastructure solution to event organisers in shared commercial premises all within one area. C&M organiser Meeting Planners chief executive officer Mr Nat Wong welcomes such an initiative as the SIC as he believes it is necessary to market Singapore aggressively to maintain its edge. "Without natural resources and a significant hinterland, Singapore will always pale in comparison with other more attractive countries," he says. "Therefore every special programme is helpful. Although not every organiser will benefit directly from the programmes, I envisage hi-tech events will benefit from the SIC scheme while visitors to most shows will benefit from the incentive scheme. While it is too early to see significant results from the SIC, response has, so far, been positive according to Mr Papineau. He is adamant organisers and participants will benefit from SIC's launch and he foresees "substantial, quantifiable and measurable results by the end of 2002". "In view of the fact the campaign has only just been launched, we are already working with a number of businesses and we have a lot of publicity on the campaign and that has generated a lot of interest," he says. The timing of SIC's launch will also play a significant role in measuring its effectiveness. IBM China global customer solution and general procurement purchasing specialist Mr William Wang said they are not yet aware of the campaign because they plan their conferences at the beginning of each year. "However, we don't have a group destined for Singapore at the moment, as we usually only use Singapore as a transit point," he admits. "While one of the destination's strengths is undoubtedly its international diversity, I believe it is too small to have colourful enough programmes. The high cost is another point against it." East West Executive Travellers chief executive officer Ms Janet Tan-Collis believes such marketing campaigns could be extended more fully to see more positive results. "The SIC campaign is great in terms of marketing but not so in terms of 'closing sales'," she says. "I think it is still rather 'open edged' as there isn't a single person to co-ordinate from start to end, therefore it is not so complete. (Suntec Singapore) cannot answer for the hotels and likewise the hotels cannot answer for (Suntec Singapore)." However, there is already proof Singapore's C&M industry looks set for another successful year, as the city is already poised to play host to more than 60 conferences and 41 exhibitions between July and December 2001. But for all its modern facilities and central Asia Pacific location, many organisers still view Singapore as being a relatively expensive destination compared with its regional neighbours. "Singapore's cost structure make us unattractive compared with our neighbours," Mr Wong explains. "Fortunately, we still manage to overcome this disadvantage due to our efficiency. However, these favourable conditions will soon erode and we will be deemed as expensive as cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo." Although demand and supply determine prices for venues and hotels, Mr Wong feels the STB is still influential and should encourage C&M suppliers to keep prices competitive compared with other countries. Some of the industry sectors he hopes to see prices coming down are from the hotels, exhibition halls, transportation and public utilities. "The STB can help with advisories and its staff should work hand-in-glove with event organisers to keep our market prices competitive," he says. "They should police suppliers, including hotels, venues and travel agents, and help them to resolve problems that drive prices up, such as manpower shortage and seasonal demand. Apart from rates, we have to work hard at giving good value. Once this is achieved, the focus will move away from pricing to benefits for organisers and visitors." However, Suntec Singapore's Mr Papineau does not believe Singapore is an expensive C&M destination. "It is value-for-money. We are half the price of Hong Kong, we are a quarter of the price of Tokyo," he says. "Yes, we charge a premium over Jakarta or Kuala Lumpur, but we are in a different league." Ms Tan-Collis believes while Singapore does have a reputation of being expensive, the industry has to demonstrate efficiency and high service levels to compensate for it. "Frankly, the attitude is not about reducing prices," she explains. "I think the prices of services in Singapore are reasonable, especially when compared to European cities. It's just we appear more expensive when compared to our neighbouring countries in the region. We have to concentrate on how much the service can enhance our product." Encouragingly, Singapore has secured more than 100 international conferences and meetings for the next ten years. The Lion State will therefore play host to around 85,000 delegates from the biomedical, IT, business and the arts sectors over that time. Singapore's C&M industry has recognised the necessity of strong marketing, although it may be some time yet before it is possible to determine how successful these newer marketing campaigns will be. But going by past experiences, Singapore can look forward to remaining at the top end of most successful convention cities in the world.