Singapore
In the right place at the right time
Theo Reilly speaks to Singapore Tourism Board development group assistant CEO Ong Huey Hong about Singapore ' s plan to triple MICE tourism receipts by 2040
Singapore is making significant upgrades to its infrastructure
What is the economic outlook for the Singapore exhibition market? This year we’ ve seen very good performance. Our MICE tourism receipts grew from S $ 1.4bn( US43.8m) in 2019 to S $ 1.7bn in 2024 – that’ s 20 % growth. Semicon Southeast Asia 2025 recorded 25,000 visitors for its 30th anniversary edition. We’ ve also had some very successful inaugural shows. The Business Aviation Asia forum brought together aircraft manufacturers like Boeing with aviation MRO companies. The Life Sciences Intelligence event came to us from outside the US and Europe for the first time.
What are some of the key trade fairs in pipeline? We’ re looking at a packed calendar from September through November.
One significant event is the International Textile Machinery Association show – its first time in Singapore after years in Shanghai. We’ re expecting 30,000 visitors. Another major inaugural is Safety & Security Asia in November, with 13,000 expected visitors. It’ s four co-located shows covering different aspects of safety and security. For 2026, we have Passenger Terminal Asia, tapping into a lot of market potential as Asia Pacific leads global aviation development. We attract events aligned with Singapore ' s growth industries: advanced manufacturing, healthcare, finance, innovations and technology.
We want to triple the growth numbers from S $ 1.5bn to S $ 4.5bn. And we have reason to believe that MICE is the real growth trajectory for us and is set to double in value in the next
Above: Ong Huey Hong, assistant CEO of Industry Development Group of Singapore Tourism Board
“ We attract events aligned with Singapore ' s growth industries: advanced manufacturing, healthcare, finance, innovations and technology”
10 years. APAC is the region that’ s really driving that growth. A second reason is that when we look at the data, MICE visitors spend about two times more than typical leisure travellers.
Another factor is the market potential. Today about 58 % of the population is in Asia. That means that in years to come, there will be more consumption, which means more trade. More trade means more business events. We’ re in a very strong position.
In Asia-Pacific, countries have different niches. Thailand offers competitive prices, Hong Kong puts an emphasis on quality. Where does Singapore sees its niche? We believe we have several attributes. It’ s quite hard to price them, in fact. One of those propositions is that there a lot of companies hosted here – over 7,000 multinational corporations, 4,000 regional headquarters and 2,000 family offices, offering connections to C-suites, leaders and funding. We also have air connectivity to 160 cities across 50 countries, and over 160 countries can enter Singapore visa-free. This provides tremendous value for business travellers.
Marina Bay Sands is undergoing a major expansion and Changi Airport Terminal 5 will also be opening in the 2030s. How do you see these developments propelling Singapore forward? Marina Bay Sands ' new 15,000-seat arena will be predominantly for entertainment use, but also really the right kind of product for large MICE groups. In addition to that, we’ re building the new downtown MICE hub. This will be smaller than our 100,000sqm Singapore Expo but in the city centre with good connectivity. We know that, more and more, delegates are not just looking for functional transactions. They want to enjoy the city. We ' re catering to this by increasing our hotel, retail and dining options. EW
46 Issue 5 2025 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk