DPM Heng Swee Keat at the Singapore Expo 25th Anniversary Celebration

Minister Dr Maliki Osman,
Senior Minister of State Desmond Tan,
Mr Robin Hu, Chairman, Constellar
Mr Chua Wee Phong, Group CEO, Constellar,
Ladies and gentlemen,

A very good evening. Over the years, I have visited the Singapore Expo frequently.

Since your opening in 1999, the Singapore Expo has witnessed many significant moments.

You have helped to launch new campaigns and roadshows, and host world-famous artists for their first concerts in Singapore and sometimes the region.

Young Singaporeans have also started planning their lives together, or bought their children's first clothes, at wedding and baby fairs held here.

Besides happy moments of celebration, the Singapore Expo has also supported our country and our people through challenging times.

Just a couple of years ago, you strengthened our national response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic by serving as a transitional care facility to treat the vulnerable and ease the burden on our hospitals.

Indeed, as a venue, the Singapore Expo has played a role in many individual and collective milestones.

So tonight, I am delighted to join you to celebrate a milestone of your own - your 25th Anniversary.

And over the past 25 years, the Singapore Expo has grown to become a key enabler of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, or MICE, sector in Singapore.

In the process, you have strengthened our reputation as a leading MICE venue in Asia and globally.

Despite being one of the hardest hit by the COVID pandemic, the sector has demonstrated resilience and rebounded strongly.

In 2023, business and MICE travellers accounted for 15% of overall foreign visitors to Singapore, up from 13% in 2019 before the pandemic.

I understand that the Singapore Expo alone hosts more than 300 events annually post-pandemic - almost 1 every day!

But these numbers and statistics alone do not capture the vibrancy which the Singapore Expo, and the wider MICE sector, have added to our economy and society.

A week ago, I launched a report titled "Transforming the Singapore Economy" capturing our journey of economic transformation over the past 8 years to help our businesses seize future growth opportunities.

One of our aspirations, as part of this ongoing transformation, is for Singapore to serve as a Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.

This means bringing the best people, ideas and resources together, across sectors and domains, to connect, collaborate and co-create solutions to shared challenges.

The MICE sector is a powerful facilitator of such flows and linkages.

Here at the Singapore Expo, Constellar has hosted a diverse slate of events spanning a range of sectors.

This includes the Singapore Fintech Festival, Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific, Asia Tech X Singapore or ATxSG, Food and Hotel Asia and Herbalife APAC Extravaganza.

Through these events, like-minded partners from Singapore, Asia, and around the world find one another and exchange ideas on how the latest technologies and innovations can be harnessed for positive impact.

By bringing a global audience to Singapore for these events, the MICE sector also creates business opportunities for Singapore companies, including our small and medium enterprises.

I should add as well, that for Dr Maliki and I, and our team, and residents in East Coast, the Singapore Expo is also an important part of our green, vibrant and caring home.

Just a few months back, Dr Maliki and I, and our team, were here to open the new Badminton Hall at Expo.

Many residents have since told me how happy they are to spend more quality time here with their families and friends, staying active and keeping healthy!

So thank you to the Expo for helping to build closer social bonds and strengthening our community spirit here in East Coast.

As with many others, the MICE sector in Singapore faces growing competition and disruption from global trends.

Many more countries and cities, including in Asia, are building infrastructure and know-how to develop and expand their own MICE capabilities.

Technological advances are also placing added pressure on the sector.

The growing use of real-time digital connectivity, smartphones and live-streaming poses a challenge for physical gatherings to stay relevant and appealing.

And in era of greater climate consciousness, questions are also being asked about the carbon footprint of the MICE sector.

After all, it takes considerable energy to power these large venues, bring in thousands of attendees, and to provide food and other amenities for them.

In fact, a 2023 study by the Singapore Tourism Board found that approximately 94% of MICE venue-related emissions stemmed from energy use.

To address these challenges and distinguish ourselves from the growing competition, Singapore's MICE sector must invest in experiential excellence.

By embracing innovation, we must continue to offer unique and memorable experiences to both those who organise events here, as well as those who attend.

Technology, in particular, can be used to enhance and enrich human connections without replacing them.

It is fitting then, that the Singapore Expo is refreshing your value proposition with your new brand identity as a "Playground of Possibilities".

This refresh is also timely, as it aligns with Singapore's ongoing efforts to be the "World's Best MICE City".

Our ambition is to be a destination where business events can create and leave a lasting and positive impact. And we invite MICE event organisers to collaborate with us and take a fresh perspective on Singapore's value proposition as a leading MICE destination that can influence purposeful outcomes.

How can we do this? And how can our MICE landscape, including the Singapore Expo, contribute? Let me make 3 suggestions.

First, we can reimagine the experiences we provide by leaning into greater space versatility.

As an island city-state with limited natural resources, Singapore's development journey over the decades has been a story of doing more with less.

Likewise, our MICE sector can enhance its competitiveness by being creative with its use of space.

Technology can also be used to create multi-functional spaces that enable memorable and more sophisticated experiences.

Here at the Singapore Expo for example, your newly-refurbished Arena@EXPO offers plug-and-play capabilities to support concerts and business events, as well as events that combine both.

It also comes with flexible floor space to allow for fully-seated events and other, more blended set-ups.

This ability to right-size space offerings can also help to make our MICE events more sustainable, which leads to my next point.

Many consumers today, especially younger ones, prefer experiences that are responsible - including to the planet.

As Wee Phong mentioned earlier, environmental standards are now also a key consideration for MICE organisers in choosing where to locate their events.

So the second way for our MICE sector to seize future growth opportunities is to embrace sustainability as a competitive advantage.

As part of future-ready transformation, we must demonstrate that our events, big or small, generate less emissions and waste and contribute to the circular economy.

On the part of Government, the Singapore Tourism Board has launched the Singapore MICE Sustainability Roadmap, in alignment with our national Singapore Green Plan 2030.

The roadmap outlines clear targets and strategies to elevate sustainability standards across the MICE sector in the coming years.

We aim to make Singapore the leading sustainable MICE destination in the Asia-Pacific by 2030.

It is encouraging to see businesses like Constellar, and venues like the Singapore Expo, investing and leading the way in greening your operations.

In 2023, for example, the Singapore Expo completed the largest single-site solar rooftop installation in Singapore.

Wee Phong said earlier that you have installed more than 16,500 panels. Together, these offset 5,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Investments like these also signal to others in the MICE sector, including your supply chain and ecosystem partners, to embrace more sustainable practices.

So congratulations to the Singapore Expo for attaining the Singapore MICE Sustainability Certification - Gold earlier this month!

Now, even as we strengthen our value proposition to host new and exciting events by offering greater versatility and being more sustainable, we must remember that participating in MICE events is ultimately still a people-driven experience.

We remember events that we attend because of excellent service from end-to-end.

So my third and final point is that we must continue to nurture and groom cutting-edge talent in our MICE workforce.

Enabling our MICE workers to upskill and develop new competencies will empower them to contribute to a more excellent MICE experience.

Supporting them to build meaningful and fulfilling long-term careers will also help the overall sector scale new peaks of excellence with a driven and enthusiastic workforce.

It was heartening to see, at the installations outside, the stories of some staff who have been with the Singapore Expo since day one and who continue to shape its growth story till today.

And I am glad to hear that, earlier this evening, the Singapore Expo signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the NTUC LearningHub to collaborate on programmes and workshops to prepare our MICE workforce for the future.

These include training in service and delivery excellence, as well as storytelling and communications.

Workforce transformation, through such collaborations, is a key element of sector and industry transformation.

Doing so will further strengthen our value proposition as a MICE venue of choice in the years ahead.

So, let me conclude. For 25 years, the Singapore Expo has played an important role in growing a vibrant and buzzing MICE sector in Singapore, reinforcing our reputation as a global destination for business, lifestyle and entertainment.

As you look to become a "Playground of Possibilities", I encourage you to continue bringing different people together, and fostering connections among them, through impactful and memorable experiences - just as playgrounds do!

By being more versatile and sustainable in your offerings, and by strengthening your talent, the Singapore Expo can help spark even more exciting conversations, collaborations and exchanges in the next 25 years.

Congratulations once again to the Singapore Expo on your 25th anniversary. I wish you many more joyous milestones ahead. Thank you.

Topics: Infrastructure, Economy