Raising Singapore's Profile via International Events
While the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit 2011 is some two years away, officials in Hawaii have already expressed confidence that the event will allow the home state of US President Barack Obama to showcase its tourism opportunities and cultural diversity.
With more than 10,000 people, including 20 heads of state and their delegations, businessmen and journalists, expected to attend the summit, hopes have been raised that the event - which will be held at the Hawaii Convention Center in November 2011 - will generate publicity and awareness about what Hawaii has to offer.
"For decades, Hawaii has struggled with the perceived boondoggle effect. The APEC meetings will dispel that misconception and position Hawaii as a global business destination," said Mr Mike McCartney, president and chief executive of the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Unlike Honolulu, whose last high-level international gathering was the Asian Development Bank meeting in 2001, Singapore has played host to several high-profile events in recent years. These included the 117th International Olympic Committee Session in July 2005, the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in September 2006, the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 and 2009, as well as the recently concluded APEC Summit 2009.
There is little doubt that the services and transportation sectors - including hotels and airlines - are among the key beneficiaries whenever such large-scale events are held in Singapore. For instance, the average occupancy level at Pan Pacific Singapore during APEC Leaders' week was approximately 20 per cent higher than the average occupancy level during the year so far, said Ms Cheryl Ng, the hotel's Public Relations Manager. "The average room rate (during this period also) exceeded our average rate year to date by approximately 30 per cent," she added.
While hosting such major events will generate spillover benefits to the economy in terms of increased tourism spending, the cost in doing so is not cheap. It was earlier reported that Singapore had allocated $100 million to host the series of APEC forum meetings, including the large- scale APEC Leaders' Week (from Nov 8 to 15) which attracted 10,000 delegates, businessmen and media personnel. The eight-day World Bank/IMF meetings in 2006 also cost about $100 million.
The question then arises as to whether the average man-in-the-street will reap any direct benefit as a result of the city-state playing host to these events, including the recent APEC Summit? Not likely, say several observers who believe the benefits to the ordinary Singaporean are intangible. "For the average man-in-the-street, national pride is probably the only 'benefit' he would recognize. Unlike the F1 race, events such as the APEC Summit 2009 do not allow the public to participate," said market observer Ms Jin Xin. "With the exception of some 1,700 volunteers who had the privilege to gain some exposure and experience in hosting the event, most Singaporeans kept track of the Summit's developments through daily news reports in the media."
