Reimagines the future of Meetings & Incentive travel while rebuilding consumer confidence in the New Era of Travel

SOTC in association with Singapore Tourism Board hosts Pioneering Digital Event for the MICE industry -“Growing MICE Connections, Achieving Together”

Mumbai, 7 December, 2020: In a focused initiative to stay connected with and rebuild consumer confidence in MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events) travel, SOTC Travel along with Singapore Tourism Board (STB) hosted an engaging and insightful Virtual MICE event - “Growing MICE Connections, Achieving Together” for its esteemed

 

clients. It was a highly interactive platform that featured state of the art audio-visual excellence, chat/applause capabilities, and a near-life virtual walkthrough of Singapore’s iconic attractions that mirrored a real life event at the destination. This industry first digital event brought together key decision makers and influencers of the MICE travel sector and deliberated on the infinite incentive travel opportunities in Singapore. It also highlighted the comprehensive health & safety initiatives undertaken by SOTC Travel (Assured Safe Travel Program in partnership with Apollo Clinics) and STB’s SG Clean (Singapore Clean) campaign (Refer to Annex A for more information) aimed at reassuring its travellers. The event saw active participation of over 150 of India’s leading corporates and multinationals - across business verticals such as Auto, Pharma, Paint, FMCG, Retail, Banking & Finance.

Mr. Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC Travel welcomed the guests and set the tone for the evening, highlighting the organisation’s delivery of consumer empowering products-services since lockdown and meticulous health & safety initiatives under the SOTC Assured program - to rebuild MICE consumer confidence in travel.

Mr. GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East and South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board infused hope as he spoke of the various meaningful initiatives being undertaken by Singapore focused on the MICE sector. He also reiterated STB’s keen interest in staying

 

connected with SOTC and its valuable corporate partners to co-curate delightful experiences for future MICE events in Singapore.

In an engaging panel discussion, Mr. Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East and South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, Ms. Si Ting, STB’s Area Director, India and South Asia (Mumbai) and Mr. S D Nandakumar, President & Country Head, B2B & Foreign Exchange, SOTC Travel, deliberated on the calibrated efforts of SOTC and STB on delivering safe and seamless MICE experiences in Singapore along with the benefits and support available (Refer to Annex B for more information) for hosting of business events.

The most noteworthy idea of the event was inviting special guest speaker, India’s first Grandmaster and five-time world chess champion, Mr. Viswanathan Anand to share his learnings especially in relevance to today’s time of the pandemic and the unexpected challenges it has brought for businesses and leaders. He was inspirational in an interactive chat show that co-related chess to the current challenging busines

environment. His humility coupled with sharp insights, winning strategies and personal experiences were highly appreciated by the CXO audience.

The digital event was moderated by renowned actress and television personality, Mandira Bedi, who ensured a vibrant and engaging event for viewers.

Mr. Vishal Suri, Managing Director, SOTC Travel said, “It is truly an honour to collaborate with Singapore Tourism Board in an industry first digital event. This unique virtual platform was curated to catalyse ideation, reimagine the future of MICE travel and build customer confidence with the comprehensive programs we have created towards safe travel in this new era. The event’s special knowledge sharing session with Viswanathan Anand, India’s Grand Chess Master, on his meaningful learnings from chess and his insights on dealing with the adversities of life was truly inspirational. The strong participation and glowing feedback from our corporates will serve as motivation to our teams - towards delivery of exceptional value to a key and strategic travel driver – our MICE segment.”

Mr. GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East and South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board added, “India is one of the top MICE source markets for Singapore, particularly in the meetings and incentive travel segment. STB is delighted to partner with SOTC Travel, one of our long-standing strategic and valued partner-friends in India, for yet another innovative MICE industry engagement initiative and ensure Destination Singapore remains top-of-mind among the Indian travellers. The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the MICE travel landscape, but it also offers us an opportunity to engage, collaborate and co-create the future of travel together. STB has developed various support schemes to cultivate and better equip the meeting and incentive travel segment in planning for their future business travel to Singapore. We look forward to growing our connections with the MICE industry; and achieving mutually beneficial results together, and to welcome our future visitors when the time is right.”

Speaking on the success of the event, Mr. SD Nandakumar, President & Country Head, B2B & Foreign Exchange, SOTC Travel said, “We are delighted to be chosen by Singapore Tourism Board, to host a unique digital MICE initiative for our esteemed MICE corporates. The event was conceptualised to engage with and empower our MICE travellers with exciting possibilities of hosting their MICE events in Singapore.

At SOTC MICE, our focus has always been to understand the need of the customer and curate and deliver successful MICE experiences accordingly. We connected with all our corporate customers to get a better understanding on Incentive travel in the post COVID world. The learnings from our stakeholders have helped us create the next level of MICE experiences – MICE Plus, a comprehensive offering of Hybrid Virtual MICE and Assured programs with additional safety features with the expertise of our MICE Team . This first of its kind virtual event was an ideal opportunity to connect with our valued corporates and reassure them with our MICE portfolio specially designed to offer complete flexibility, safety and security – a key consideration for travel in the COVID era.”

About SOTC Travel

SOTC Travel Limited (Formerly SOTC Travel Pvt. Ltd.) is a step-down subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Group; held through its Indian listed subsidiary, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL). SOTC India is a leading travel and tourism company active across various travel segments including Leisure Travel, Incentive Travel and Business Travel and Foreign Exchange.

SOTC was established in 1949. Since then, it has escorted lakhs of travellers across the globe for more than 70 years to various destinations around the world. A new age

 

innovative holidaymaker, SOTC strives to make holidays a priority for every Indian. ‘We are for holidays’ and we want Indians to prioritize their holidays.

Media Enquiries:

 

To set high standards of environmental public hygiene and to build confidence in our businesses, STB launched the SG Clean Quality Mark in February 2020 - a national mark of excellence that is awarded to businesses that meet those standards, and as of November 2020, STB has certified more than 27,000 individual premises across Singapore.

Annex B: MICE Support Schemes by Singapore Tourism Board

To better equip the MICE agents and corporates in their planning for their next business travel to Singapore, STB has developed various support schemes and made further enhancements keeping in mind that group size will be smaller for a start.

•       INSPIRE (In Singapore Incentives & Rewards) is a scheme which supports small groups and offer free experience/s to choose from a suite of more than 60 pre - curated unique experiences. These experiences include dining options, event venues, attraction admission with extra benefits, tours and teambuilding activities.

•       BEiS (Business Events in Singapore) is a financial support scheme targeted at large groups which offers the corporates a financial grant to help them enhance the quality of the travel program.

•       SMAP (Singapore MICE Advantage Program) is a bundle of benefits that various Singapore stakeholders offer to the delegates.

•       STARS (Special Travel Agent Rewards Singapore) is a reward program to reward the MICE agent and event planner for securing groups to Singapore.