IN light of a greater proportion of mobile savvy FITs emerging from China, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced a bevy of digital services to better connect with and attract such visitors to Singapore’s shores.
While this is not the first time STB is penetrating China’s digital and mobile space, it is the most comprehensive initiative yet, comprising four first-time partnerships and two new product launches with current partners.
First-time partners are online travel services Alitrip and Tuniu, and social review sites Dianping and Mafengwo. All of them signed a MoU with STB on October 21, 2015, agreeing to curate and distribute content on Singapore, over a period of two to three years, to their users.
Meanwhile, current partners WeChat and Baidu have both launched new products. The digital partnerships will feature attractions such as the River Safari and Gardens by the Bay in a new YourSingapore WeChat account, while offerings at the Sentosa HarbourFront precinct will be detailed in a new Baidu Connect service. More partnerships will be announced at a later date.
Khoo Shao Tze, chairman of Sentosa Harbourfront Business Association, said: “We still utilise publicity tools through traditional media to access the Chinese market, but if Chinese tourists want to go deeper, then there is that limitation. Baidu Connect will allow that depth”.
Singapore has seen a 19 per cent year-on-year increase in Chinese arrivals in the January to August 2015 period, and the partnerships are aimed at fuelling this growth.
In 2014, 1.7 million visitors from China visited Singapore – the second largest contributor of international arrivals – and this contributed to tourism receipts worth US$1.8 billion. Out of the total number of Chinese visitors, 80 per cent were either FITs or free-and-easy travellers.
“We are seeing more Chinese FIT visitors in recent years. Besides the need for comprehensive information for trip planning, they also desire real-time useful tips, navigation, payment and translation tools to explore a destination independently,” said Edward Chew, STB’s regional director (Greater China).
Darren Oh, director of business development at Gardens by the Bay, is sanguine about the partnerships. He said: “Chinese visitors are among the top five markets for us and we are seeing a huge growth in that segment. For us, we have lesser resources compared to larger attractions in the country, so going onto online platforms will really help us get the message across.”
