GLOBAL travel distributor GTA yesterday announced a strategic partnership with five international hotel brands to increase awareness of Singapore and boost tourist arrivals to the country.
A total of 22 three- to five-star hotels from Far East Hospitality, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Fragrance Hotel Management, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore (RWS) and The Ritz-Carlton are involved in the partnership.
The partnership will focus on markets within seven hours’ flying distance from Singapore, pariticularly those where awareness of the destination is lower. Cities in Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and the UAE as well as secondary cities in China, India and Indonesia will be targeted.
Tom Meyer, managing director of Swissôtel The Stamford and Fairmont Singapore, told TTG Asia e-Daily: “These markets are all exciting for us… This is a new opportunity for us to reach out to markets that we haven’t touched yet.”
In a press statement Daryl Lee, GTA regional vice president of sales and marketing for Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, said: “With increasing competition from neighbouring destinations and a misconception by some that Singapore is expensive and sterile, visitors to Singapore have fallen 3.1 per cent to 15.1 million in 2014, the first drop since 2009.”
Lee told TTG Asia e-Daily the partnership would address these misconceptions, adding that while Singapore can indeed be expensive, it also contains “hidden gems” – lesser-known but more affordable attractions – such as the vibrant street food culture.
As such, GTA will plan dedicated seminars about the hidden gems for travel consultants to better equip them to sell the destination.
Sightseeing attractions such as FunVee Hopper operated by City Tours and RWS’ Universal Studios Singapore (USS) have also been brought together for promotion.
“One of the challenges (that travellers face) when (companies) offer individual rates is that they’re more expensive, but we will try to bundle and package things to offer value for money,” Lee said, citing the example of bundling USS tickets with accommodation at any of the partner hotels.
By Jerlene Ng
