jwc Launches New Destination Development Model Following Singapore Pilot

Global consultancy jwc has unveiled a new analytical framework designed to help destinations demonstrate how business events contribute to broader public-policy objectives and long-term development strategies.

Called the DDM — Destination Development Model — the framework responds to growing pressure from governments and public-sector stakeholders for evidence that goes beyond traditional metrics such as delegate spend, hotel nights and direct economic impact. Instead, the model seeks to connect business events with wider policy outcomes including talent development, innovation, sustainability, resilience and destination reputation.

The first major validation of the model has now been completed through a phase-one pilot with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which tested the DDM’s core structure within one of the world’s most mature and policy-driven business events ecosystems. The pilot will now serve as the foundation for the model’s next stage of development and international rollout.

“Destinations are not funded based on activity. They are funded based on outcomes,” said Kai Hattendorf, Partner at jwc. “For decades, the business events industry has been good at measuring outputs: visitors, spend, square metres, room nights. But governments think in terms of outcomes: talent, innovation, resilience, sustainability, economic positioning and community value. The DDM helps destinations connect business events to that policy conversation.”

The model evaluates business events across 15 dimensions grouped into four strategic impact clusters: People & Community, Skills & Knowledge, Economic Impact, and Reputation & Legacy. Together, these categories are designed to provide destinations with a more structured understanding of how event portfolios contribute to long-term urban and economic development — from community engagement and workforce development to international positioning and legacy creation.

Unlike conventional impact assessments focused primarily on visitor economy metrics, the DDM is intended as a strategic decision-making framework. It enables destinations to evaluate whether their event portfolios are aligned with broader policy ambitions and where future investment or bidding strategies could deliver stronger outcomes.

“The DDM is a policy alignment and decision tool,” Hattendorf said. “It shows where a destination’s event portfolio already creates strategic value, where gaps remain, and where future policy, investment or portfolio choices can deliver stronger outcomes.”

At its core, the framework connects three elements: policy ambition, event contribution and measurable outcomes. Starting from a destination’s own strategic priorities, the model analyses how business events contribute across the DDM’s 15 dimensions using a combination of local data, industry indicators and structured modelling.

Singapore played a central role in shaping the first phase of the project. As pilot partner, the Singapore Tourism Board worked closely with jwc to test the framework against real destination priorities, policy objectives and available data infrastructure.

STB provided destination-specific policy insight, contextual analysis and industry data to support the Singapore pilot, while the project also incorporated an academic research component in partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology. Students involved in the initiative explored potential datasets and indicators that could strengthen the model, with selected participants set to attend IMEX for the official launch of the DDM.

“The DDM pilot offers a structured way to consider how business events can drive meaningful outcomes to the destination beyond the event itself,” said Ong Huey Hong, Assistant Chief Executive, Industry Development Group, Singapore Tourism Board. “As the World's Best MICE City, Singapore's ambition goes beyond tripling our MICE tourism receipts by 2040. We want to ensure that growth is underpinned by lasting value for our destination, industries and communities, and the DDM gives us an evidence-based framework to demonstrate that.”

The framework is aimed primarily at destination leaders, convention bureaus, tourism boards, city authorities and public-sector policymakers seeking stronger alignment between event strategies and public investment priorities.

According to jwc, the model is intended to help destinations:

• align business events with policy priorities;
• identify gaps between strategic ambition and current event contribution;
• guide bidding, funding and portfolio decisions;
• strengthen the case for targeted investment; and
• shift from activity-based reporting to outcome-driven strategy.

Rather than replacing existing industry research and economic impact studies, the DDM is designed to integrate them into a broader destination-development framework.

Following the completion of the Singapore pilot, jwc plans to work with additional destinations and public-sector partners interested in applying the model to their own event portfolios and development agendas.

The next phase will focus on expanding the model’s adoption across new destinations, refining localised data inputs and further developing its analytical and delivery capabilities.
 

Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.