Hosting WEF a major coup for Singapore and crucial to healing MICE sector

THE World Economic Forum's (WEF) decision to host its Special Annual Meeting 2021 in Singapore next May is a prestigious media-grabbing coup for the city-state, but more importantly a significant stepping stone to heal the country's meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector, experts say.

Gernot Ringling, managing director of Messe Düsseldorf Asia, one of Singapore's leading exhibition organisers which is staging its flagship Medical Fair Asia exhibition in a digital online format from Dec 9-18 due to the pandemic, told The Business Times (BT): "Singapore already has a reputation as a great MICE destination, and hosting WEF will enhance that reputation even more.

"The travel and hospitality industries have born a disproportional amount of the economic impact of Covid-19. I am confident that hosting WEF will be a significant stepping stone to full recovery for the MICE industry and all the ancillary services industries involved in it."