BUSSINESS TRAVEL
Asia’s robust economic growth has seen Singapore’s Business Travel and Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry continuing to thrive.
In Singapore hosted 3.2 million business visitors, and these visitors spent an estimated S$5.2 billion (excluding sightseeing, entertainment and gaming expenditure).
Singapore continues to establish thought-leadership through new compelling content in first-in-asia events and first-in-singapore events 19th International Symposium on Formal Methods, Special Education Network In Asia (SENIA) Conference and International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS).
Singapore hosted major World Congresses and several key meetings including WTA Board Meeting and Global Advisory Council and the SPAR UK Convention . Meanwhile, events such as the International Furniture Fair Singapore and Broadcastasia continue to experience strong growth in attendance and/or exhibition space, signalling Singapore’s continued popularity as a MICE destination.
GENERAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Singapore offers a first-class business environment. We took the second spot in the World Bank’s 2016 annual rankings for the easiest place to do business, previously topping the charts for a decade
To further ease business transactions for traders, freight forwarders who are members of Singapore Logistics Association now enjoy cost and time savings when shipping goods to Thailand and Malaysia through Singapore’s Global e-trade services. Traders can also look forward to the National Trade Platform in 2018, when freight management and trade financing services will be integrated by Singapore Customs to improve cross-border trade processes.
Singapore offers unparalleled connectivity to passenger and cargo, as one of the world’s top transportation hubs for sea and air cargo. Our seaport is connected to more than 600 ports in 120 countries, while Changi Airport is linked to some 380 cities in 80 countries, with more than 7,000 weekly flights.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
International trade forms the backbone of Singapore’s economy, which is among the most open and trade-friendly in the world . We ensure everything – from institutions and infrastructure to policies and services – encourage the free flow of goods. As a key economic pillar, total physical trade is typically more than double of Singapore’s GDP.
International trade is the process of trading, selling, marketing, providing value added services, and distributing goods and services for use by a consumer or business user. The bulk of trade in Singapore involves the businessto-business (B2B) buying and selling of products, which involves many small and medium enterprises (SMES) and multinational corporations (MNCS).
Over 34,000 companies across seven industry segments employed 9% of Singapore’s total workforce – or more than 320,000 people. These companies handled S$47.3 billion worth of merchandise, which accounted for close to 12% of the nation’s GDP. The national plan to improve the industry – the Wholesale Trade Industry Transformation Map (ITM) – aims to create 10,000 new jobs by 2020.
NETWORK OF BUYERS, SELLERS AND DECISION MAKERS
Singapore is the Asian centre for trade, home to the world’s largest trading companies that generate more than US$1 trillion in annual turnover. More than 35% of the international companies place one or more top-level corporate executive in Singapore.
We also have an extensive network of players along the value chain – in supply chain, logistics, financing and other related services. This creates an effective and neutral marketplace for traders to better exchange information and structure deals.