S'pore Set for Multibillion-Dollar Mice Sector With Projected Growth

Organisers Offering More Options and Fringe Activities So Visitors Extend Stays

- Alyssa Woo

American icons Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift may have grabbed headlines with their performances in Singapore, but players in the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (Mice) ecosystem have been making strong contributions as well.

If all goes to plan for the various venue providers, hoteliers and event organisers in the city-state, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) might meet its aim to more than double its Mice tourism receipts by 2040.

According to a 2019 study by STB, Mice travellers contributed around $1.4 billion — or about 4 per cent—to Singapore's tourism receipts. The contributions are estimated to increase to 10 per cent by 2040, or around $3.5 billion.

The concerts by Swift in 2024 and Lady Gaga in May are said to have helped boost tourism receipts by hundreds of millions of dollars.

The tourism board said the Mice global market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.2 per cent from 2024 to 2032.

The Asia-Pacific is expected to lead owing to the higher growth rate of the regional economies; rising trend of business travel, otherwise known as bleisure; and improvements in social services and infrastructure.

Mr Poh Chi Chuan, STB's executive director for exhibitions and conferences, said there has been an upward trend in business travel post-pandemic with such travel and Mice making up 15 per cent of overall international visitor arrivals in 2023, an increase from 13 per cent in 2019.

He added that STB will continue to pursue events that are aligned with Singapore's key industries, such as healthcare, technology and advanced manufacturing; international events such as HealthTechX Asia were held in May, with Smart Health Asia to come in 2026.

Mice players The Straits Times