SINGAPORE'S CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION INDUSTRY - ITS GROWTH AND THE ECONOMY

Abstract

Singapore's MICE industry started on a small scale in its infancy stage. Since then, the MICE industry has experienced growth and Singapore has become the leading convention and exhibition centre in Southeast Asia. The growth of the MICE industry can be measured by the number of conventions and exhibitions, and the number of foreign participants who visited these events. There are many factors that contributed to the growth of the MICE industry. One of the factors is due to the efforts of the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB) in promoting Singapore as a convention and exhibition city. The Asian financial crisis has brought along opportunities to the Singapore MICE industry to consolidate its position and prepare for the eventual recovery of the region's economy. Singapore's regional competitors have improved on their facilities and this could post a threat. However, the Singapore Expo Centre, with its huge exhibition space, can help relieve the increasing demand for exhibition space and aid Singapore in her bid to be a convention and exhibition city. The Asian financial crisis has also highlighted the point of whether the growth of the Singapore MICE industry is affected by her own economy as well as the economies of her major foreign participants. This question can be answered by conducting a simple linear regression to determine if there is a linear relationship between the GDP of Singapore and the major foreign participants' GDP, and the growth of the MICE industry.