Indian arrival surge: Can F1 Grand Prix revive Singapore tourism?

Last week, Singapore witnessed the Formula One (F1) circus rolling into town for the 14th time. 

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Along with the world-famous drivers and their girlfriends, there were other celebrities, fans, spectators, and tourists thronging the Marina Bay Street Circuit and other parts of Singapore, soaking in the atmosphere. Plus, a large number of business executives

Undeterred by the doubling and, in some cases, tripling of hotel rates, organisers of over 28 MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions) events are taking advantage of the carnival vibes to hold their events during the same week as the Grand Prix. This is up from the 25 events held last year.

Returning events include the Forbes Global CEO Conference, Token2049 (a crypto event), Seafood Expo Asia, and the Milken Institute Asia Summit. Coming to Singapore for the first time are the Pop Toy Show (pop culturerelated toys, collectables, and merchandise event) and the inaugural Ethereum Singapore.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) expects that the MICE programmes running alongside the F1 Grand Prix will attract attendees from markets such as the US, UK, Japan, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and India.

Although the number of spectators over the three days of this year’s Grand Prix has fallen to around 250,000 from last year’s record high of 302,000 (partially because of a loss of 17,000 seats due to the closure of the Bay Grandstand for redevelopment) and television audiences have slipped around 10 percent from the average of 90 million that watched the race in its inaugural years, the Grand Prix is still very much the highlight and flagship event on STB’s calendar.