Local exhibitions get a touchup

Singapore - In its bid to foster greater confidence and credibility for the local exhibitions industry, Spring Singapore has structured a new set of rules governing industry standards.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), or International Standard for Exhibition Terminology, has been recently completed and defined, with industry terms and measurement procedures in place.

According to the joint release issued by Spring Singapore and Singapore Tourism Board (STB), other than raising the service standards and professionalism, this standard allows for greater transparency as information in marketing brochures and media publicity would then be more credible. This also helps auditors verify the statistics provided for each exhibition and trade show, in turn allowing companies to better determine which exhibitions and tradeshows globally are ideal for its products or services.

Both Spring Singapore and STB hope this first ISO standard for the global exhibition industry "will help facilitate clearer communication among industry players and minimise ambiguity over the terms used" and aid in the development of the global MICE industry.

|In 2007, business and MICE visitors accounted for nearly three million of total visitor arrivals, and contributed over S$5 billion or 40% of the total tourism receipts. STB aims to raise the amount to S$10.5 billion by 2015.