MOS Tan: The MICE sector is a bright spot in our economy. As you know, there is now global uncertainty over the macro economy, but the MICE sector is a bright spot in our economy. We project it to double in value, with Asia markets growing the fastest, and our Tourism 2040 plan puts MICE at the front and centre. In fact, we are targeting for the MICE tourism receipts to triple from about $1.4 billion to about $4.5 billion by 2040.

 

With both the MICE environment looking very strong, as well as our government interventions and our plans to grow the MICE sector even more, that means that there will be more exciting, new, and innovative jobs created for people who are excited about the sector. In fact, we see increasing demand by tourism players looking for people with sustainability-related skills for the MICE sector. At the Singapore MICEForum, as well as the Singapore MICE Awards, and tomorrow at the Singapore MICE Development, we are bringing in about 600 students from IHLs, ITEs, polytechnics, and universities to expose them to this growing MICE sector, and to be very intentional by explaining the wonderful opportunities available in this growing sector.

 

ST: You want to triple the tourism receipts coming from MICEto $4.5 billion, and sustainability-related jobs seem to be a hot sector. But what are the gaps that have been identified in manpower? What is the status now? What do you hope to grow towards? How many jobs need to be created? 

 

MOS Tan: The jobs in the MICE sector is growing. There is demand. Tourism players, particularly in the MICE sector, are telling us that as they review, build more MICE events, and bring in new offerings of MICE events here, they will need their manpower. 

 

This is where there is a gap in terms of the demand and supply, and that is why the MICE sector is now on the front foot trying to recruit more people. I mentioned tomorrow that there are about 600 students coming to find out opportunities in the sector. And as we grow the MICE sector – I mentioned earlier on, our plan is to triple the MICE tourism receipts from $1.4 billion to $4.5 billion – we will need people working in the MICE sector to be skilled both in technology andsustainability. And with these skillsets, they will be able to take on these roles. We, as a MICE sector, will be able to have better offerings for the global economy and for global event organisers to land in Singapore and hold their shows here. 

 

CNA: On the note about like the talent pipeline, we see that the student hospitality scene is changing with different vocational schools potentially closing down. How is Singapore going to continue to fund and support this talent pipeline in the hospitality and MICE industry?

 

MOS Tan: You are talking about training, and there are a lot of different training opportunities in our ITEs, Polytechnics, and IHLs. You can take courses in Ngee Ann Polytechnic and some of our ITEs, for example, and that accrues towards a hospitality diploma or in a related field. When you have graduated, there are jobs, internship opportunities, and also full-time roles that are available in the MICE sector. 

 

And many of our MICE companies will be able to do on-the-job training for our recruits to upskill and to do even better as they come into the MICE sector, and then also grow with the MICE sector as the sector grows.

 

CNA: On the ground, when I speak to different hospitality or MICE-related educational institutions, they also note that the retention rate of students who want to continue on in this industry is perhaps declining as well. How can we continue to support, encourage and increase interest in this? 

 

MOS Tan: There are two folds to this. First, the industry is and continues to evolve with time. MICE is becoming more green; MICE is using more technology. I think that will interest a growing number of young people who want to look at a different aspect of MICE. How do you make conventions and meetings a little bit more sustainable? How do you use technologies like machine learning, artificial intelligence and other technologies to make organising a MICE event even more exciting and also less labour intensive. The MICE sector is already transforming, both through technology and through green. At the same time, if I were a young person and going into the MICE sector, I get to pick up these skills, and I also get to shape the industry as I develop my skills, and also deploy these skills, with the organising of the MICEevents. 

 

CNA: Can we also expect to see more support given to hotels and different team players in this? 

 

ST: Just to add on to that, because the hospitality sector has a notoriously high turnover rate as well. It is about retention, but also about what sort of support is coming to play. 

 

MOS Tan: For the hospitality sector, we look at it in a couple of pillars. The first is government support, and I mentioned earlier on that both STB and MTI have multiple support for our tourism sector. You see that in Tourism 2040 plan, and acore part of the plan is also in developing our tourism workforce. That is one. I mentioned earlier on, that means also helping our IHLs, polytechnics, ITEs, and universities to be able to have funding for them, to have good courses that students can take on, and then connect them with real internship and also full-time opportunities. 

 

The second part is, of course, bringing in world class MICEevents to Singapore. The MICE industry is competitive, but Singapore has been one of the top MICE meeting cities for 22 consecutive years. That counts for something – it means that we are doing something right, and it means that new offerings and new MICE events are coming to Singapore, primarily because we can do the job. We can hold the MICE events; we can hold them well; we can hold them spectacularly and reliably. That is important. Making Singapore attractive so that these MICE events will come – this gives our people the opportunity to work in these events, improve these events, and hopefully to get a little bit longer and sustainable jobs in this sector. The sector is evolving over time, so as technology and sustainability parts come into play, it becomes more exciting. We have been already speaking with SACEOS and the trade associations to work together with the students and people who are interested in the MICE sector, to see how they can extend the duration of people working in the sector, 

 

CNA: I would like to broaden it a bit. We are the top for 22 years, but in Southeast Asia, we see a lot more growing and emerging competitors. Do you think that perhaps we may be becoming too expensive for event organisers, and are we going to combat that? 

 

MOS Tan: We want to be high quality. The reason why Singapore is at the forefront of MICE is because we can deliver these programmes and events at value. If it is not of value, they would not want to come. But many of these MICE events, and the Asia part of global meetings and exhibitions, they have chosen Singapore because of reliability. They have chosen Singapore because it is a very strong ecosystem. What we also want to remind people who are thinking of Singapore as a place to hold their events is this – where there is crisis, for example, Singapore is always reliable. You think about the COVID crisis. When we had MICE events here, we very quickly tried to pivot, make sure that they can carry on, make sure that they can do it safely. Now, when the market is up, people start to remember what Singapore is able to do, what are the events that they can bring into Singapore, and vis-à-vis our neighbours in the area, they are willing to pay a premium for high quality. That is where we are targeting our efforts.