The Singapore Tourism Board has unveiled Tcube, an innovative space at Tourism Court that aims to help tourism stakeholders better their digital capabilities to reimagine visitor experiences and achieve sustainable operations.
On the reason for launching Tcube, or the Tourism Technology Transformation Cube, Ong Huey Hong, executive director industry technology transformation, shared: “We want to grow tourism companies into transformative leaders to compete better. We want to cultivate a community of innovators to chart new courses. And we want to facilitate partnerships between like-minded stakeholders to spur innovation through pilots and experimentation.”
Support will be provided through a three-step framework: learn, test, and build.
The Learn phase will be facilitated by STB’s Tourism Transformation Index, a self-assessment tool with recommendations on relevant programmes to support digital transformation. Stakeholders will be able to gain insights into cross industry trends and applications through leadership conferences and case studies to help them develop new capabilities and implement digital practices for their businesses.
After learning, the Test phase will be facilitated by STB’s Singapore Tourism Accelerator programme, launched in 2019 to help tourism businesses source for innovative solutions to address business challenges. There, stakeholders will be able to bring their ideas to life through experimentation.
There will also be programmes with consultancy services for high-level digital transformation roadmaps, as well as design-thinking workshops to prototype user-centric solutions. Additionally, tourism stakeholders will have the opportunity to engage in innovative projects such as running proof-of-concepts and pilots. These initiatives will help businesses to de-risk while testing new concepts and ideas.
From there, stakeholders will be guided to the final step. The Build phase will be supported by a suite of smart services, including the Tourism Information and Services Hub – a resource platform allowing tourism businesses globally to connect, access and share Singapore tourism information – and the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network which provides actionable insights on visitor data. Tourism stakeholders will also have access to a library of ready-to-use 3D assets, as well as AR standards.
Wong Ming Fai, STB’s chief technology officer, said: “Technology and transformation are no longer nice to have, but imperative to survive and thrive now, and also, in the new post-Covid environment. With Tcube, we brought together existing resources to make it easier for (tourism stakeholders) to access (them), (as well as) provide a physical space for people to meet, be inspired, and to collaborate.”
