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Strong line-up of events to support Singapore's reopening

Samantha Chiew
·2-min read

The strong recovery in the MICE industry is expected to help boost Singapore's reopening.

With Singapore’s meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry expected to post a strong recovery, thanks to the city’s reopening to fully-vaccinated visitors with no quarantine and testing requirements, DBS is keeping optimistic on this sector and believes that this will support the country’s reopening.

On June 1, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced that it intends to ride on the growth momentum by launching an enhanced incentive programme for international MICE groups, and with a strong pipeline of events in 2022 and beyond, a full recovery for the MICE industry is expected in two to three years. The MICE industry typically contributes about 15% of international travel.

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See: STB expects Singapore's MICE industry to post strong recovery

STB has also seen indications of the industry’s recovery. Singapore hosted over 200 events attended by an estimated 49,000 delegates in 2021. In the first three months of this year (January to March) alone, Singapore hosted more than 150 events attended by over 37,000 delegates. This number is set to increase, with at least 66 international events secured for the rest of 2022.

Meanwhile, DBS noticed that this will cascade down and support several other industries, such as retail and transport.

DBS notes that thanks to the strong line-up of MICE and sports events this year, coupled with revenge travelling and spending by tourists, retail and Changi passenger volumes have improved.

Retail sales for May saw food & alcohol spending increase by 8.3% m-o-m, while recreational goods were up 12.2% m-o-m. And for the first week of June, Changi passenger volumes reached 48% of pre-pandemic levels, ahead of the government’s goal of 50% by the end of 2022.

DBS expects retail sales should stay strong going forward.

According to analytics firm Cirium à Tourist, Singapore is among the most popular destinations within the region for international tourists and hence DBS believes that the numbers could continue to rise in the upcoming winter season.

Some upcoming MICE events this year include the AIJA Annual Congress (Aug), Milken Institute (Sept), Gamescom Asia (Oct), Formula 1 (Oct) and Tour De France Criterium (Oct).

To that end, DBS likes the aviation sector, as it believes that it should benefit from the return of passenger volumes. Both Singapore Airlines and SATS are hence expected to ride on this momentum and see improvement.

Retail, Hospitality and MICE are also expected to further improve going forward with the return of tourists, with DBS paying attention to Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT), Suntec REIT, Genting Singapore, Far East Hospitality Trust and CDL Hospitality Trust.

Meanwhile, increased mobility and continued tight demand-supply for ride-hailing services would be positive for ComfortDelGro.

 

Photo: Bloomberg

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