As destinations race to recapture tourism dollars, Singapore’s key preoccupation is to differentiate the city-state from its competitors, emphasised chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Keith Tan.
Speaking at the Tourism Industry Conference 2022 yesterday, Tan unveiled a host of initiatives aimed at stimulating travel demand and rebuilding arrivals.
Key among STB’s efforts is an expanded SingapoReimagine international recovery campaign, which will be carried out over the next six to 12 months in critical source markets like Indonesia, Australia and India.
In Indonesia, the second-largest market for the city-state after China, STB is relying on a combination of creative activations and attractive incentives to raise Singapore’s desirability. An example, STB has an ongoing collaboration with Artotel Group and Far East Hospitality, where the hotel groups have designed unique Singapore-themed rooms in their Indonesia hotels, and are offering exclusive discounts at Far East properties in Singapore.
STB also promoted Singapore’s tourism offerings with redeemable rewards at the Astindo Travel fair in Jakarta last month.
To further market Singapore and spur conversions, STB is now firming up partnerships with Indonesian banks and malls.
These in-market efforts are complemented by intensified regional and global partnerships to feature the destination. Singapore Airlines, Qantas, AirAsia, Changi Airport, Expedia, Klook and WarnerMedia are among the many partners.
Enhanced offerings
Later in the year, STB will launch a new incentive programme that will offer travellers a complimentary experience when they visit Singapore.
“We want to delight our visitors with hidden gem surprises so that they experience more of Singapore, in an unexpected way,” Tan explained, and urged industry players to support the programme by developing more unique and unusual experiences that will reel in repeat visitors especially.
Building towards mid- and long-term goals Tan said Singapore’s immediate initiatives must support medium to longer-term strategies for 2030 and beyond, and STB has drawn up forward-looking plans that are termed, Tourism 203X.
Tourism 203X comprises four key pillars: defending Singapore’s business events position as a global-Asia node; developing Singapore as a sustainable urban destination; strengthening Singapore’s urban wellness offerings; and doubling the fun quotient of events and experiences in Singapore.
On the business events front, Singapore will create, attract and grow high-quality events out of Singapore that are aligned with the country’s economic focus and critical needs of the future, such as sustainability, urban solutions and fintech.
Expanding on Singapore’s sustainable destination goal, which was highlighted last year, Tan said there has been “good progress over the past year at raising our sustainability quotient”. He pointed to the launch of the Hotel Sustainability Roadmap in March, which has seen “high ambition and high commitment” from hotels across the country.
Support has also come from other tourism sectors, such as from the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers, which will be aligning its MICE Sustainability Certification with internationally-recognised standards. Along the same lines, Singapore will participate in the Global Destination Sustainability Index for the first time, to benchmark performance against other MICE destinations.
STB will also look to certify Singapore as a sustainable destination under the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Destination Criteria.
Tan encouraged industry players to support the sustainable goal by thinking beyond reducing carbon emissions, and “weaving sustainability into all your touchpoints with your guests”.
Citing an example of what tourism businesses can do, Tan pointed to the collaboration between Sentosa Development Corporation and Palawan Innovation Studios to introduce HyperDrive, a new racing and interactive gaming activity using electric go-karts.
Tan explained: “Our ambition is to become one of the world’s most sustainable urban destinations, a city in nature, where large experiences come with small footprints.”
In the space of wellness tourism, which is projected to grow in the next five years to reach US$1.1 trillion by 2025, STB has the ambition to position the destination as one with a wide range of accessible experiences that support the holistic well-being of leisure and business visitors, and for the Singapore wellness experience to be different from the likes of Bali or Phuket.
The Wellness Festival Singapore will debut in June to enhance the country’s wellness offerings and catalyse more wellness-related products and partnerships between various players in the destinations. Some of the known activities include a multi-sensory pop-up at Gardens by the Bay alongside wellness masterclasses; an inaugural Livewell Festival at Sentosa; and a series of art, wellness and mindfulness programmes at the National Gallery of Singapore.
More activities under the Wellness Festival Singapore will be announced in time to come.
For the final pillar, Tan urged industry players to skip old and familiar templates and look towards “innovative ways to enable our events, experiences and offerings to surprise and stand out”.
One way to do that is to partner with popular brands and IP, or introduce more hands-on, educational experiences, he suggested.
Later this year, CityNeon will launch Avatar: The Experience at Gardens by the Bay’s Cloud Forest. The walk-through event invites guests to connect with the alien world of Pandora, its bioluminescent environments, mythical creatures, flora, and the captivating culture of its indigenous people, the Na’vi. It coincides with Gardens by the Bay’s 10th-anniversary celebrations as well as the worldwide release of the film’s sequel.
Another product that will up the fun quotient is the new Chocolate Factory concept by homegrown brand Mr Bucket Chocolaterie at Dempsey. Launching later this year, it will feature Singapore’s first build-your-own chocolate bar section, with distinctive Asian flavours.
To let returning visitors know that they are not coming back to the “same old places”, Tan encouraged industry players to maximise the use of existing spaces and refresh them.
Orchard Road will continue with its transformation to become a top lifestyle destination. An iconic new development is Trifecta, set to be Asia’s first snow, surf, and skate attraction when it opens in 2023. Conceptualised and developed by Singapore-based adventure sports company The Ride Side, the attraction next to the Somerset Skate Park will enable visitors to accomplish the hallowed trifecta of snowboarding, surfing and skating in one day and all under one roof.
The slopes in the snow arena will be powered by the first Virtual Reality (VR) ski simulator in Asia, with best-in-class speed simulation and directional movements to mimic the uneven terrain of a natural mountain. The surf arena will incorporate the world’s leading technology in deep water wave pool for an endless surf experience, with water columns of 1.5m, the deepest in Singapore. Meanwhile, the skate arena will be home to the world’s first hybrid skate bowl designed for skateboarding and surfskating, making it the first skate bowl in Somerset, and the first surfskate circuit in Singapore.
Facilities at Trifecta will be rounded out with unique F&B concepts and retail stores that introduce the complete trifecta lifestyle to customers. – Additional reporting by Karen Yue
The Singapore government has earmarked close to half a billion dollars to support the tourism sector’s trek to recovery over the coming years, alongside new and enhanced programmes, revealed minister of state for trade and industry, Alvin Tan at this morning’s Tourism Industry Conference.
In his address at Suntec Convention Centre, Tan said the funds would be used to support and sustain strategic manpower capabilities in the sector, offset business costs, as well as amplify Singapore’s international recovery plans.
He called on industry stakeholders to utilise the financial support for business transformation and development of new experiences.
“Test-bed new and innovative concepts and solutions, especially in wellness and sustainability. Continue to develop your talent, to ensure that the tourism workforce is equipped with the skills needed to support your business transformation plans,” Tan urged.
As tourism returns against a backdrop of inflation, Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) chief executive Keith Tan said the fresh funds would also come in handy to help tourism players deal with rising costs of operations.
However, he emphasised that “business cost is a reality” and that “all businesses in Singapore must internalise that, and not expect the STB or the government to shield them from rising business costs”.
As the cost of travel rises, it is even more important that tourism players develop experiences, attractions and events that travellers find are worth every dollar.
Adding on to the minister’s suggested priorities for the usage of the fresh funds, STB’s Tan encouraged industry players to look at developing great experiences for visitors or to attract new offerings that have yet to wash up on Singapore’s shores.
“For example, we don’t want the same old Christmas light-up on Orchard Road. How can we multiply the wow factor of that annual event?” he explained, adding that the new experiences should serve to differentiate Singapore from other destinations.
Sustainability focus
With sustainability recognised as an engine of growth for the tourism industry, Singapore will build on its existing Singapore Green Plan 2030, introduced in 2021, to launch the Tourism Sustainability Programme (TSP), which provides tourism businesses with resources to identify strategic areas for sustainability efforts.
In line with Singapore’s ambition to become one of the world’s most sustainable urban destinations, the TSP will focus on three main areas: capability and growth; innovation; and education and awareness.
Capability building and training will be supported through Training Industry Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT). TSP will also offer grants such as Business Improvement Fund (BIF) to improve companies’ resource efficiency and competitiveness.
To foster innovation, TSP will support the development and test-bedding of innovative sustainable solutions through the Singapore Tourism Accelerator. Innovative technology providers and tourism businesses will work together to develop solutions in areas such as waste, water, energy and carbon emissions management that can be scaled up across the industry.
To continuously educate and provide information on best practices and focus areas to inspire industry players to consider new opportunities, the Hotel Sustainability Roadmap jointly launched by STB and Singapore Hotel Association in March, sets out sustainability targets for the hotel industries and strategies to help them achieve these goals.
Singapore’s sustainability focus will include collaboration with other tourism segments to set “ambitious” targets and strategies, noted STB’s Tan. Initiatives include the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers’ move to align its MICE Sustainability Certification with internationally-recognised standards; participation in the Global Destination Sustainabilty Index to benchmark performance against other business events destinations; and certification of Singapore as a sustainable destination under the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Destination Criteria.
Workforce focus
As Singapore strengthens her destination appeal, STB is working to ease manpower pressures on industry stakeholders.
Tan noted that the tourism industry lost a third of its workforce over the past two years.
While the reopening of land borders with Malaysia will alleviate some staffing bottlenecks, it is imperative that Singapore continues to build up her future-ready workforce capabilities, he opined.
To this end, STB worked with the National Trades Union Congress and Workforce Singapore to set up the Tourism Careers Hub (TCH) late last year.
Tan encouraged industry players to reach out to TCH to help find workers with the right skills or to upskill their staff to meet their needs.
Through the TCH, STB works with the tripartite partners to extend end-to-end job facilitation, training and support for the sector’s workforce.
Digital transformation focus
Firms keen on digital transformation have benefited from STB’s Tourism Technology Transformation Cube (Tcube), which was launched last year. This digital transformation support has been further enhanced with a programme that supplements tourism businesses’ Augmented Reality (AR) capabilities.
STB has developed 100 3D models of points of interests, and these are available via the Tourism Information and Services hub for industry players to utilise for free. The concept has been expanded into Extended Reality (XR), which encompasses Augmented, Mixed and Virtual Reality.
To create engaging interactive content, STB is also keen to pilot proof-of-concepts with the sector. It has worked with S.E.A. Aquarium on an AR app for visitors to interact with marine animals digitally, and learn more about marine life.
To expand these efforts, STB launched a grant call, The Next Experience, in February with the purpose of creating XR-enabled experiences that motivate people to visit multiple points of interest. STB has received healthy interest ahead of the proposal deadline on April 23. – Additional reporting by Karen Yue