In celebration of Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport’s fifth year, the Jewel Blooms floral festival returns with an even more expansive and immersive floral experience from now to August 11.
Jewel Blooms: What A Feelin5 will feature six key floral installations which aim to bring out in visitors the following emotions: happiness; peace and calm; love; sense of adventure; and passion.
Canopy Park is transformed with floral displays featuring over 15,000 blooms, and for the first time in South-east Asia, Japanese floral artist Megumi Shinozaki has created a special large-scale floral artwork comprising hybrid starchis (grown only in Japan) for the Petal Garden: Super Blooms by Megumi Shinozaki installation, the largest at Jewel Blooms.
For the young ones, Changi Experience Studio’s ‘An Enchanted Night at the Airport’ camp offers a fun garden adventure and magical sleepover during the school holidays. There is also fun to be had at the Hedge Maze: A Maze of Sunshine, which features a sunflower maze; the Mirror Maze: Tranquil Blossoms adorned with 1,000 cascading pink, purple, and white wisterias; and the Topiary Walk: Bloomventure.
Other areas include the romantic Foggy Bowls: Blooming in Love with over 80 lighted paper and kinetic flowers dancing in the gentle mist, and fluttery butterflies; and a serene escape at Source Pool: Swimming in Harmony that features nine larger-than-life goldfishes swimming among live water plants on a misty pond.
There are also a variety of activities such as the Jewel Blooms Marketplace (May 31 to June 9), and the Jewel Plant Swap (June 1) where fellow plant enthusiasts can meet and swap greenery among themselves.
For more information, visit Jewel Blooms.
He has previously held key roles at Amari Johor Bahru, Tunamaya Beach & Spa Resort Desaru, Meritus Pelangi Beach Resort & Spa Langkawi, and Hotel Royal Penang.
While the tourism sector in Asia-Pacific may be a major employer for women, who make up 53 per cent of the total industry workforce, social-cultural traditions have deterred many others from joining the industry.
Conservative societal expectation and norms in the region prioritise women’s roles within the family, where women are the default spouse or parent responsible for fulfilling domestic and caregiving roles, according to a UN Tourism report.
Speaking at the 2nd UN Tourism Regional Conference on the Empowerment of Women in Tourism in Asia and the Pacific in Bali recently, Prachi Thakur, technical coordinator of the conference, emphasised the need for education on gender roles – specifically the fact that no one gender is built for a specific job – and to break the belief that women should not consider unconventional jobs.
Mariyam Nasheetha Nasheed, deputy minister of the Ministry of Tourism of Maldives, also highlighted the challenge women face in their career after getting married or having children, as traditions expect them to give up on their jobs.
“We are trying to address the issue by formulating specific policies, like introducing a friendly environment (and) workplace for women, which aim to retain women in the industry,” Mariyam added.
Meanwhile, World Women Tourism co-founder Nisha Abu Bakar opined that other factors preventing women from joining the tourism industry are low salaries, gender discrimination, lack of career growth, and even sexual exploitation.
Nisha stressed the need for “a concerted effort to support zero tolerance (towards) discrimination” as well as strong policies that protect women in the workforce if the industry hopes to attract more female workers and professionals.