The association - made up of visitor bureaus from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - hopes to drive more business events to the region through the establishment of a shared data bank. The AACVB was first launched in 1983.

'At least eight convention and visitor bureaus will put cooperation ahead of competition and raise the level of sophistication of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (Mice) sectors in Asia. Our aim is to increase competitiveness and drive new MICE business to our region.' AACVB chairperson, Ms Suprabha Moleeratanond told a press gathering at tourism trade fair in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

Member countries will share best practices and conduct joint branding and marketing exercises. It will also look into areas such as training programmes and accreditation to raise the region's industry standards and professionalism.

Meanwhile, Singapore said it continues to attract a robust pipeline of business events, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Singapore was given the thumbs-up by the World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) which will be holding its 15th conference in Singapore for the first time in 2012. The island will also hold what is expected to be the largest FDI Dental Congress ever with over 13,000 dentists gathering in Suntec City come September.

The STB said Singapore is also gearing up for more tourism developments with the two Integrated Resorts opening end 2009 and 2010 and the Marina Bay Financial Centre which will be up and running in 2010.