SINGAPORE

Singapore to retain MICE crown

Daniel Cheng*

Japan has made the highly lucrative MICE business one of the key pillars of its integrated resort policy, though it’s unlikely to knock Singapore off its perch as the regional leader any time soon, even with its shiny new properties.

The global meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) market may in its broadest interpretation be approaching the trillion dollar mark, according to Allied Market Research.

In the last decade, the buzz has revolved around Integrated Resorts, as an all-in-one destination that is widely heralded as the linchpin of the MICE industry. Once exclusively the domain of mega-properties on the Las Vegas Strip, the Asia region has now stolen its thunder with more opulent developments sprouting up all over the Asian continent.

As a tiny nation with few natural resources, Singapore has been the first to take the leap and benefited as the early adopter. The two Singapore IRs helped reverse a declining trend in annual tourist arrivals, and contributed to it being consistently named Asia Pacific’s top meeting destination in the past few years.

Singapore’s success spurred some of its Asian neighbours to emulate its achievements. However, none has been able to attain the same lofty heights.

Japan is set to be the next guinea pig embarking on the IR experiment and has skyhigh expectations. MICE and tourism growth are trumpeted by the government as the chief grounds to develop IRs in Japan.

However, for MICE business to thrive, it needs to be reinforced and supplemented by a conducive ecosystem where MICE is but only a subset.

MICE works best in a place which has the full deck. Consumers go where their needs are met, and their wants are fulfilled; the former is mandatory but the latter cements the decision.

The former is rendered generally by the direct MICE-related businesses; planners and organisers, convention and exhibition venues, hotels, airlines and transportation providers.

Suffice to say, the ‘wants’ are of a greater value and are more difficult to create. Consumer ‘wants’ are entertainment, rich culture, exotic cuisine, adventure, variety and a positive experience.

In that sense, Singapore perpetually faces an uphill battle because it holds the weakest hand. Everything has to be created, both the ‘needs’ and the ‘wants’.

Singapore is the epicentre of MICE in the Asia Pacific not only because it dotted all the ‘i’s and crossed all the ‘t’s in the MICE supply chain, but also because it created a welcoming cosmopolitan, globalised village, building entertainment and attractions where none existed.

Japan’s government has pronounced four key pillars for Japan IR development: world-class entertainment; an array of hotel accommodation; MICE, and a gateway to Japan.

The Japanese view the MICE component in the IR as some sort of magic potion that would open the tap for MICE business into Japan. They seem to have underrated the fact that Japan is already blessed with bountiful attractions, culture, nature, beauty and a culinary smorgasbord.

Do Japan IRs spell the fall of Singapore from its pinnacle in the MICE sector in the Asia Pacific? Not quite. Singapore still retains three key ‘need’ cards that give it some upper hand.

First, Singapore is an established international business centre where thousands of corporations around the globe have business operations.

The premise of MICE revolves around an ecosystem of business and corporate customer groups. It is a further advantage of these customer groups to hold their events in a country where they also have a local office. In this aspect, Singapore has no equal in the Asia Pacific region.

Second, the bulk of MICE business is international, involving air travel. Here again, Singapore excels logistically as an international travel hub and Changi Airport is consistently voted the best in the world.

And third, because of the very international flavour of MICE business, the host country needs to be proficient in the universal language of English.

Not only is Singapore highly Englishliterate, but it is also competent in Mandarin, being one of the main second language of Singaporeans; giving it an upper hand for the enormous China outbound MICE market.

*Daniel Cheng is a founding partner of Global IR Consulting Japan (GICJ), and previously held senior executive positions with Hard Rock International, Genting Group and Bally International (now Scientific Games).

Operators pay $745,000 in fines in 2018

Fines paid by Singapore’s two casino operators amounted to $745,000 ($540,000) in the 2018 financial year, with the lion’s share extracted from Genting Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa.

The figures were released in the Casino Regulatory Authority’s recently published annual report. Las Vegas Sands’ Marina Bay Sands paid a total of $15,000 split between two offences, one of failing to prevent a minor from entering the floor and failure to prevent a local resident from entering and remaining without paying the entry levy.

Resorts World Sentosa was fined $400,000 for failure to implement a system of internal controls approved by the authority; it had to pay $250,000 for failure to comply with a direction related to conduct, supervision and control of operations and $80,000 for failure to prevent five minors from entering the casino.

MBS sues for missing client funds

A former Chinese gambler at Marina Bay Sands is suing the casino for allegedly transferring funds from his casino deposit accounts without his authorization, Bloomberg reported.

Wang Xi discovered in July that S$9.1 million ($6.6 million) was missing from his account as a result of 22 transfers made between October and December 2015. Wang said he doesn’t know the people who allegedly received the money.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the High Court of Singapore, Marina Bay Sands told Wang that it had received authorization letters signed by him in Macao for the transactions.

Wang said the signature was copied and pasted onto the authorization letters and blamed the casino operator for failing to verify the authenticity of the letters and signatures.