SINGAPORE is sending more business travellers to Australia, according to statistics provided by Tourism Australia’s (TA) office in Singapore.
At the Business Events Australia South East Asia Showcase dinner organised in Singapore earlier this week with Chan Brothers MICE & Travel, TA’s general manager for South/South-east Asia & Gulf Countries, Karyn Kent, told TTGmice e-Weekly that overall business arrivals from the Lion City for 2013 increased two per cent as compared with 2012.
Out of total business arrivals, conference and meeting arrivals rose nine per cent.
Holiday purpose arrivals, which included incentives, FITs and leisure groups, rose significantly by 20 per cent year-on-year for the last 12 months up to March 2014, Kent added.
“Singapore is our fifth largest market in the world, while Malaysia ranks seventh and Indonesia, 12th. We are seeing a lot of potential for incentive business from these three markets,” she said.
Kent added that the strong performance of the Singapore market – incredible for its relative size – is a result of the increased number of flights by LCCs from the city as well as repeat visits.
Singaporeans are also “responding well” to the Australian food and wine campaign launched last July, she said, which now has an added focus through the Restaurant Australia campaign launched early this month (TTGmice e-Weekly, May 9, 2014).
Singapore-based Chan Brothers MICE & Travel’s account manager, Alvin Valencia, said: “About 80 per cent of our outbound MICE business pertain to incentive trips of 50 to 60 pax, mainly from the electronics, engineering and F&B industries.
“For trips to Australia, the Gold Coast and Perth are the most popular, although we have observed an increasing number of enquiries for Melbourne as well. Melbourne’s Phillip Island and Sovereign Hill are interesting incentive options for nature parks and hands-on gold-mining experience respectively.”
Meanwhile, Melbourne continues to draw business events, with the city’s convention venues already well booked out up to 2018, according to Edward Kwek, regional sales director South Asia of Melbourne Convention Bureau.
Medical conferences form the bulk of the major events, Kwek said, citing incentive and pre/post-meeting options like guided coffee tours, the newly relaunched ferris wheel Melbourne Star, sporting events like Formula One and the Melbourne Cup, as well as “the best pizza in the world”, among others.
