The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will begin accepting applications for organisers to pilot Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) events of up to 250 attendees from Oct. 1, 2020.

STB and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) will review all MICE event proposals and event organisers can proceed only if they obtain MTI's approval.

Demonstrate ability to implement Safe Management Measures

Event organisers must demonstrate their ability to implement Safe Management Measures to meet a set of health and safety outcomes.

The Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) Conference in Oct, 2020 is one such pilot event set to take place.

This comes after the STB's Safe Business Events Framework for business events of up to 50 attendees, which was first announced in Jul. 2020.

Demand for business events

According to a press release on Sep. 7, the move takes into consideration the importance of the MICE industry and the demand for business events.

A survey commissioned by STB in 2019 showed that the industry supported over 34,000 jobs with an economic value-add of S$3.8 billion, or nearly one per cent of Singapore's GDP.

MICE business travellers are also said to spend almost double that of leisure travellers.

According to STB, the gradual resumption of business events can help maintain Singapore's position as a leading MICE hub, while safeguarding jobs and livelihoods in the industry and related sectors.

An Event Industry Resilience Roadmap (IRR) will be introduced later this month to provide guidance on safety measures in line with the gradual resumption of business events.

Prototype for safe trade shows and exhibitions

The Alliance for Action on Enabling Safe and Innovative Visitor Experiences has developed a prototype for safe trade shows and exhibitions.

These are larger events that would not have been allowed to resume in their pre-pandemic format.

According to the release, the prototype which is developed in partnership with the private sector, will offer delegates the level of interaction they would be used to in a regular trade show setting.

However, it would minimise infection risks and would be "in a far safer way".

This prototype will be tested at a few trade shows beginning with a new event, TravelRevive, held in Nov. 2020.

The alliance has designed safe itineraries which will be trialled with TravelRevive delegates. The itineraries are made of leisure activities that comply with safe management guidelines.

Foreign delegates of pilot events will need to use TraceTogether to facilitate contact tracing.

According to STB, a travel insurance product for for inbound travellers that will cover critical Covid-19 related expenses will also developed by the fourth quarter of this year.

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Top photo via Singapore Expo