The residence of the Italian Embassy in Singapore hosted “Italy as a M.I.C.E. destination” on the 18th of April 2024, an event aimed at a select audience of tourism agents and specialized operators in the Asian City-State to present the opportunities Italy offers as a destination for M.I.C.E. tourism, i.e. meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions.
Opened by Ambassador Dante Brandi, who highlighted Italy’s ability to host and manage global events such as the G7, Milan Design Week, Biennale d’Arte, to name but a few, but also the Jubilee 2025 or the Winter Olympics 2026, the evening was organized in collaboration with NATAS (National Association of Travel Agents of Singapore) and Turkish Airlines and featured Tobia Salvadori, Director of Convention Bureau Italia (CBI), the private national tourism promotion body active in the meetings industry.
The initiative provided an overview of the main Italian destinations for award and convention travel, with a focus on Milan, Rome and Sicily. It also highlights the network of professional operators in the sector available to facilitate this type of inbound tourism for Asian operators, as well as the availability of hospitality and transport infrastructures throughout the country, and the experiential opportunities offered by Italy, the fifth most visited country in the world and the first for UNESCO World Heritage sites, which make it particularly suitable for this type of off-season tourism.
Singapore has a market strongly oriented towards M.I.C.E. tourism, both outbound, due to the presence of a service industry fabric and high per capita income, and inbound, aspiring to become a world capital of M.I.C.E. itself, thanks to its characteristics of receptivity, dynamism and connectivity.
The event, which was also attended by the top management of Triumph International, a leading Italian events company involved in the organization of the G7 Summit in Puglia in June and with a stable presence in Singapore from 2019, offered local operators the opportunity to deepen contacts and collaboration opportunities, and offered the opportunity to invite them to “Italy in Hand”, the main event for M.I.C.E. tourism, to be held in Turin in December by CBI.
