Singapore is Asia’s Mice king

Singapore has emerged as the only Asian city in the Top Ten Convention Cities in the world alongside Vienna, Madrid, Paris, Berlin and Barcelona, according to the latest Global Rankings by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Singapore has also maintained its position as Asia’s Top Convention City for 11 years running.

Last year the country hosted a record of 150 ICCA events, the highest so far, representing a 5.6 per cent increase from 142 in 2011, compared to the 4.4 per cent increase from 2010 to 2011.

The accolade comes after a stellar year for Singapore tourism as the country welcomed a record high 14.4 million visitors, an increase of nine per cent from 2011 while tourism receipts stood at S$23 billion ($18.3 billion), an increase of three per cent from 2011. For 2013, Singapore forecasts tourism receipts to grow to between S$23.5-S$24.5 billion ($18.7-$19.5 billion), and visitor arrivals to between 14.8-15.5 million.

There was also robust performance in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (Mice) industry, which saw visitor arrivals rise to 2.5 million from January to September 2012, representing a six per cent year-on-year growth. Expenditure by these business visitors rose seven per cent year-on-year to an estimated S$4.29 billion ($3.42 billion).

This comes after a successful year of hosting 18 world congresses in 2012, including a number of first-in-Asia or Singapore events such as the Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, International Association of Gaming Regulators Conference, Young Presidents’ Organisation Global Leadership Summit, World Conference on Tobacco or Health, World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress as well as Global MBA Leadership Conference and Expo.

Neeta Lachmandas, assistant chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), commented, “The competition in the global meetings arena has never been keener, and Singapore is up against many worthy cities going for the Mice business. We believe that we are moving in the right direction by providing original content, incisive insight into leading-edge discussions and platforms for networking and exchange opportunities. We will also certainly continue to work with partners to strengthen our events calendar and deliver quality meetings to our delegates.”

MIDDLE EAST APPEAL

Singapore has traditionally been a popular destination among Arab visitors as the tourism board looks to welcome back guests with a host of new attractions launching this year.

Launching in time for the GCC summer school holidays is one of Singapore’s newest and most ambitious attractions. River Safari, Asia’s first river-themed wildlife park. Boat tours will unveil the wonders of Africa’s Nile River, the mysteries of the Amazon, and the giant Pandas of the Yangtze River, with a large part of the park allocated to profiling these and many other famous rivers. More than 5,000 animals from 300 species and one of the world’s largest collections of aquatic animals have been relocated to the park to offer visitors an exhilarating and interactive view of the planet’s iconic waterways.

Singapore Zoo, one of the country’s most popular family destinations drawing over 1.7 million people every year. This lush rainforest habitat includes nearly 3,000 mammals, birds and reptiles, offering visitors a chance to see giraffes, giant crocodiles, zebras, white rhinos, giant tortoises, cheetahs and lions and many more at close quarters.

A new exciting addition at the Universal Studios Singapore is the world’s first fully immersive Sesame Street indoor themed ride, which can be enjoyed by the whole family, taking guests on an outer space adventure with Elmo and friends.

Another major draw card for visitors to Singapore this year is the 20th Anniversary of the Great Singapore Sale. Running until July 28, Singapore will be host to eight weeks of fabulous shopping and great deals on fashion, watches, jewellery, electronics, toys and more.

Other upcoming developments include the Singapore Sports Hub and the National Art Gallery will also help boost Singapore’s inventory of interesting and unconventional Mice venues. For instance, the new Sports Hub will include a 55,000-capacity National Stadium with a retractable roof and comfort cooling for spectators; a 3,000-capacity indoor Aquatic Centre complete with leisure facilities, expandable to 6,000-capacity for specific events that meets world tournament standards; and a 3,000-capacity multi-purpose Indoor Arena which will be scalable, modular and flexible in layout.

http://www.ttnworldwide.com/articles.aspx?ID=2042&artID=14117

Hyderabad's IT industry welcomes Telangana move (India's 29th state)

Hyderabad, July 31: After over three years of uncertainty, the Information Technology industry here heaved a sigh of relief with Tuesday's announcement by the Congress party to carve out a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. The announcement has cleared the air over the future of Hyderabad, a major IT destination in the country. This fast growing metropolis will be the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years. Andhra Pradesh is expected to build its own capital within that period


The IT industry welcomed the decision, saying it brought an end to uncertainty and brightened the prospects of the city attracting new investments. The industry with software exports to the tune of Rs.40,000 crore was worried over frequent shutdowns and spells of violent protests for separate Telangana state. This had taken sheen off brand Hyderabad. "I believe the decision has brought in a positive sentiment as the uncertainty surrounding the matter has finally been resolved," said V. Laxmikanth, managing director, Broadridge India. "Hyderabad, known for its large pool of talented IT professionals and as a base for leading MNCs, is expected to reclaim its reputation of being the destination of choice for businesses across industries," he said. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, chairman and managing director, Infotech Enterprises, said while he was not for or against the decision, he was anxiously looking forward for this decisive movement. "The separation problem has been voiced for the last 50 years but in the last three years some of these agitations have been (hurdles) for progress of the state. The uncertainty has slowed down the growth. That is now past." Suman Reddy, vice president and managing director, Pegasystems India, hoped the development will bring back stability in the business environment of the city. "Growth and expansion from the perspective of IT MNCs investing in the state had been stalled/relatively slow due to this issue, which hopefully will Resume after the decision is announced," he said. Hyderabad, which emerged on the world IT map only in mid-1990s, is home to over 1,000 IT and ITeS companies including global majors like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Dell, Oracle and Amazon. The IT and ITes sector provides nearly five lakh jobs.
Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/07/31/hyderabad-it-industry-now-breathes-easy-telangana-andhra-pradesh-1272698.html

Indian Govt to further liberalise FDI policy

The government will further liberalise and bring in more clarity to the overseas investment policy to attract foreign funds that will help tackle the current account deficit, finance minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference on his completing one year as finance minister, Chidambaram said the government is “actively considering liberalising FDI” policy.

Chidambaram's comments came less than two weeks after the government liberalised FDI policy for various sectors, including telecom, insurance, defence and retail.

The finance minister said the government would soon bring in more clarity to the foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations in multi-brand retail which would help attract investments into the sector.

"The commerce ministry is in the last leg of clarifying the policy,” he said, adding the proposal is likely to be placed at Thursday's cabinet meeting.

The government last year had opened the gates to foreign investors in multi-brand retail allowing up to 51% FDI.

However, no foreign investment has taken place in the sector so far.

Chidambaram hoped that the overseas investors would enter into the Indian multi-brand retail markets, once the issues were clarified. “FDI in multi-brand retail is being held back because there are some pertinent questions.”

Chidambaram, who took charge of the finance ministry Aug 1, 2012, said the government was also considering a number of steps to help curb current account deficit that surged to a record high of 4.8% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

"We are looking at some compression in non-oil and non-gold import to curb demand for non-essential luxury items,” he said.

The finance minister expressed confidence that government would be able to finance the current account deficit.

"We have already financed current account deficit by $88 billion (in 2012-13)...We will be able to fully finance current account deficit this year too,” he said.

Other measure under consideration to curb current account deficit include liberalisation of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) norms and attracting investments from NRI deposits, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.

On sovereign bonds, Chidambaram said: “Sovereign bond issue is an option on the table, but I will not rush into any decision.”

RBI governor D Subbarao on Tuesday had opposed the idea of issuing sovereign bonds saying it was not good for long-term financial stability of the country as it would make Indian economy more vulnerable to external shocks.

On the rupee, Chidambaram said the recent depreciation in the Indian currency was “quite unexpected”.

"There is no level for the rupee, what we want is a stable currency,” he said.

The rupee slipped to 61.18 against a dollar Wednesday, a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left all key policy rates unchanged. The Indian currency is nearing the record low of 61.21 hit earlier this month.