MICE players call for higher wage offsets

Singapore

COMPANIES in the meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) industry have queried their exclusion from the highest tier of a key support measure in the Resilience Budget.

Under the enhanced Jobs Support Scheme in the support package announced on March 26, the operators of purpose-built MICE venues will receive 75 per cent wage offsets for the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages for each local employee, the same as companies in the aviation and tourism industries.

However, contractors that provide products and services to the MICE scene have been notably excluded. They will receive only the 25 per cent base support earmarked for general companies.

Such companies in the MICE ecosystem range from destination marketers to event management companies, event furnishing rental companies, designers and stand contractors, audio-visual (AV) companies and more.

Kris Vimal, Singapore chief executive officer of MacGyver Consultants International, noted that the event contracts awarded to MICE venue operators or larger MICE companies are subcontracted out to smaller contractors like his event management company. The smaller companies then create, develop and produce the concepts together with other service providers in the industry.

While MICE venue operators are certainly suffering because events cannot be held, these companies are in the same boat as they do not have alternative revenue streams to tap on, pointed out Leslie Pillay, managing director of MLA Special Events.

He said: "If the intent was to help the MICE industry - not just the few better known companies - to survive Covid-19, then I think it should be extended throughout the MICE ecosystem. We may not supply the rooms, but we supply the experience."

Said Juliana Mattar, managing director of communications and experience agency motion: "A lot of us are trying to pivot our business to the digital space, but budgets are being cut across the globe, so all communications projects have been stalled.

She added: "The government has really positioned Singapore as a hub for international MICE events, and it needs to think about helping this industry to survive."

Gerard Rodrigues, managing director of audio, lighting and video company Expo AV-InSync, said companies in the audio-visual technical production industry feel "shortchanged" by their classification with general firms under the 25 per cent offset category.

"The MICE venues rely heavily on our professional services and solutions," said Mr Rodrigues. "Most times, the MICE industry betters itself through event technology and know-how, to create stunning and captivating events, through companies such as ours."

He added that because many companies in the sector were among the first hit by the outbreak in late January and early February, their bank statements for the last three months do not look healthy - making it harder for them to access other measures like the Working Capital Loan scheme.

Andrea Teo, Singapore head for global destination and event management company Pacific World, said the survival of the industry's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is critical to the MICE ecosystem's ability to recover later on.

"We are lucky enough to fall under the 75 per cent category, but the wider industry is very fragmented with SMEs in different pockets of the industry," Ms Teo told BT.

"Should these companies be unsuccessful in getting through this period, Singapore will be faced with a lack of capabilities to support our position as a top MICE destination, and bear the additional burden of acquiring manpower in an industry that is already facing talent shortages to begin with."

Said Mathias Kuepper, managing director of trade fair organiser Koelnmesse: "At the end of the day, it wouldn't benefit Singapore if only venues survive this episode, with nobody left to organise and service the events."

Edward Koh, executive director for conventions, meetings and incentive travel at the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), noted that MICE-related businesses will benefit from numerous other measures in the Resilience Budget, including deferment of income taxes and higher quantums for temporary bridging loans and working capital loans.

"The MICE sector remains a strategic pillar of our tourism industry, and these measures aim to help MICE businesses retain their local employees, stabilise their operations, manage their cashflow and deepen their manpower capabilities," said Dr Koh. "STB will continue to engage the industry and work with our partner agencies to give further support if necessary."

Regarding the MICE businesses' request to receive the 75 per cent wage offsets, CIMB economist Song Seng Wun said that the government should apply to the MICE sector the same holistic approach that it has been applying to the economy in recent weeks.

"With regard to the broad travel and hospitality industry, and the business of MICE itself, it should similarly be treated as a sector that has been affected very directly by the global tightening in travel restrictions," said Mr Song. "I would say it's not an unreasonable request for the MICE companies to be included in these measures."