Singapore's tourism board will concentrate more of its resources on companies with headquarters in the city in a bid to target more events.

Jeannie Lin, Singapore Tourism Board's executive director of conventions & meetings and exhibitions & conferences, said: "Singapore has between 90 and 100 headquarters in its territory and will increasingly move its focus more on providing event and incentive services for these companies' international offices, which for us create both good business and logical spin-offs."

Speaking at the IMEX conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Lin said that in 2011 the island nation welcomed 13.2 million visitors, 25 per cent of whom came from the meetings and events sector. Singapore added 78 new events in 2011, she said, helped by such initiatives as the £27m expansion of Singapore Expo, close to the airport, and the £90m facelift and technology upgrade of the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre, which will see the light of day at the end of 2012.

Lin said: "New, integrated developments such as the Marina Bay Sands resort, which has 2,000 rooms in three towers, opened in 2011 and enjoys a 95 per cent occupancy rate, have enhanced the destination. We're competing with Hong Kong, we're competing with Dubai, and many other places, but our strength lies in that our small size falls neatly in with the amount of time that many meetings and incentives have to spend in any one place."

To cater to these incentive groups, Singapore would focus on activities such as architectural tours, which combine the destination's new skyscrapers with its heritage buildings.