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Singapore to resume large-scale business, leisure events in tourism sector

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is gearing up for a strong comeback by the tourism sector and will pave the way for large-scale, high-quality business and leisure events to recommence this year, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said in Parliament on Friday (March 4).

Speaking during the debate on the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) budget, Ms Low said many more events, such as the Global Health Security Conference 2022 and Find Design Fair Asia 2022, as well as the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix and the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, will be held later in the year.

"We will defend our position as a leading destination for high-quality business and leisure events. We hit a 'pause' button on these because of Covid-19," said Ms Low.

The Singapore Air Show 2022, which took place from Feb 15 to 18, welcomed an estimated 13,000 trade attendees and almost 600 exhibitors from more than 39 countries.

STB has also just launched the Tourism Careers Hub pilot to provide training and skills upgrading for workers and firms in the tourism sector.

The initiative will focus on job matching within the sector and encouraging technology transformation, among other workforce improvement efforts.

The STB will accelerate its SingapoReimagine campaign as international travel resumes, and help tourism companies develop attractive products and experiences.

In addition,  the SingapoRediscovers voucher (SRV) scheme  was launched in 2020 to drive local spending at hotels, attractions and tours here.

The scheme has since generated nearly $300 million in SRV-related bookings and transactions, and up to $100 million in ancillary spending.

The MTI will also work with the tourism sector to co-create innovative tech and digital solutions.

Over the past three years, STB's Singapore Tourism Accelerator Programme has supported 34 promising tech start-ups in developing solutions to ready the sector for the future.

"Covid-19 has hit the tourism sector very hard, but despite the challenges, we have continued to quickly adapt and pivot to new propositions to come back stronger," said Ms Low.

"We will continue to support the tourism sector's efforts to recover, innovate and come back stronger than before."

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Govt to invest S$500 million to help tourism sector recover, aims to position S'pore as 'urban wellness haven'

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SINGAPORE — In a bid to reel in travellers after Singapore eased border restrictions earlier this month, the Government has set aside half a billion dollars to support the tourism sector's recovery from the pandemic.

• The Government is investing S$500 million to help the tourism sector recover
• The money will go into supporting and sustaining strategic manpower capabilities and offsetting business costs, among others
• Plans to revitalise the industry include a new festival that promotes wellness in June, as well as a new integrated board sports facility along Orchard Road

Kimberly Lim

Speaking on Wednesday (April 6) at an industry conference, Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, said that the investment will go into supporting and sustaining "strategic manpower capabilities in the sector, offset business costs and amplify our international recovery plans".

"Looking ahead, while the outlook for international travel is hopeful, we must remain agile and be prepared to face challenges and setbacks that may come our way," he added.

"With the experience and learning that we have gained in the past few years, I am confident that we will be able to emerge stronger together." 

The plans to revitalise the tourism industry include a new festival that promotes wellness in June, as well as a new integrated board sports facility along Orchard Road. The facility is part of a move to remake the shopping belt into a lifestyle destination. 

The facility, which will be called Trifecta, will allow visitors to skate, surf, ski and snowboard, the Singapore Tourism Board's chief executive Keith Tan said at the conference, which was attended by industry leaders.

The announcement came shortly after Singapore eased its cross-border controls for Covid-19 from the start of this month. 

Plans to revitalise Orchard Road have been ongoing, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Keith Tan said at the same conference.  

"We must focus on raising the 'delight' or 'fun' quotient of the events and experiences here in Singapore.

"Don’t just rely on formulas or templates that worked in the past. We must come up with innovative ways to enable our events, experiences and offerings to surprise and stand out," he added.

In 2019, the Urban Redevelopment Authority introduced the Strategic Development Incentive scheme to drive the redevelopment of older buildings and turn them into more productive mixed-use developments — by allowing developers to increase their gross floor area, among other things, if they have proposals that transform the precinct. 

That year, a ministerial committee working on the Government's plans to rejuvenate the well-known shopping belt in Singapore eventually came up with Design Orchard, an incubation space for homegrown brands, among other projects.

Mr Keith Tan of STB added that the Government will "double-down" its efforts for SingapoReimagine, its international recovery campaign to welcome travellers by realising their passion for travel "through fresh and innovative experiences" in Singapore. 

"While it will take a few years for international demand for travel to return to pre-pandemic levels, we need to effectively recapture the pent-up travel demand in the immediate term so that we can speed up our tourism recovery," he said.

Several growth areas for Singapore tourism have been identified, including becoming a sustainable urban destination, as well as positioning itself as an "urban wellness haven".

"Post-pandemic, we want Singapore to be seen as a destination with a wide range of accessible experiences that support the holistic well-being of our leisure and business visitors," the STB chief said.   

Tourism recovery

• STB will be launching a new incentive programme to offer visitors a complimentary experience when they visit Singapore, in order to give visitors “hidden gem” surprises so that they may experience more of Singapore in an unexpected way
• The agency will intensify regional and global partnerships to feature Singapore. Such partners would include online travel agents such as Expedia and Traveloka, as well as aviation partners such as Singapore Airlines
• It will also grow the country's position as a node for business tourism by drawing business events that are relevant to the needs of the future, such as those involved in sustainability, urban solutions, food security, energy security, financial technology and advanced manufacturing

Tourism Sustainability Programme

• A new Tourism Sustainability Programme will be launched to provide tourism businesses with resources to identify strategic areas to embark on or expand sustainability efforts. It will focus on three main areas: Capability and growth, innovation, and education and awareness 
• The programme will support capability building through training, as well as to provide grants to businesses
• Through the Singapore Tourism Accelerator, the Government will support the development and test-bedding of innovative sustainable solutions

An urban wellness haven

• In 2019, the global wellness tourism market was estimated at more than US$720 billion (close to S$990 billion). This figure is projected to grow over the next five years to reach US$1.1 trillion by 2025 
• Singapore has many opportunities to curate wellness experiences and leverage its identity as a "City in Nature" , Mr Keith Tan said, referring to the Government’s vision and goal for the country  to create a liveable and sustainable home for its people by increasing green spaces
• A 10-day Wellness Festival Singapore, which is focused on wellness and mindfulness, is slated to be launched in June. It will include a multi-sensory pop-up space at Gardens by the Bay, along with wellness masterclasses that offer a series of art, wellness and mindfulness programmes at the National Art Gallery of Singapore

Singapore's 'fun' quotient 

• Homegrown brand Mr Bucket Chocolaterie will launch a new Chocolate Factory concept later this year at the Dempsey Road dining enclave. It will feature Singapore’s first build-your-own chocolate bar section, with distinctive Asian flavours 
• Later in 2022, Gardens by the Bay will launch a new attraction called Avatar: The Experience, which is based on the 2009 Hollywood movie

Ready for the future

• STB is piloting proof-of-concepts for "extended reality", which encompasses augmented, mixed and virtual reality. To do this, it launched a grant call earlier in February called "The Next Experience"

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• Economy & Policy

Tourism receipts total S$13.8b-S$14.3b in 2022; higher forecasts for 2023: STB

SINGAPORE tourism receipts reached an estimated S$13.8 billion to S$14.3 billion in 2022, about half of the 2019 pre-pandemic level, based on preliminary figures, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said at their year-in-review on Tuesday (Jan 17). This was on the back of 6.3 million international visitor arrivals – above STB’s forecast of four to six million visitors, though only about a third of the 2019 figure.

December alone saw 931,337 international visitor arrivals, the highest since the onset of the pandemic, though it remains below December 2019’s 1.7 million visitors, STB data showed. There were 816,340 tourist arrivals in November 2022.

Barring unexpected circumstances, tourism activity is now expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, earlier than the previously expected mid-2020s recovery.

The tourism growth momentum is expected to continue in 2023, on the back of increasing flight connectivity and capacity, as well as China’s reopening. An estimated 12 to 14 million visitors are anticipated to bring in about S$18 billion to S$21 billion in tourism receipts – around two-thirds to three-quarters of 2019 levels.

Asked about inflationary pressures, STB chief executive Keith Tan is “reasonably optimistic” that their impact will be “relatively small”, as travellers are prepared to bear the higher costs.

While he highlighted strong demand from China and regional markets, Tan said supply-side considerations remain. Juliana Kua, assistant chief executive, international group at STB, noted that there are about 38 weekly flights from China to Singapore as at January 2023, less than 10 per cent of pre-Covid levels. China also announced that outbound travel would be carefully calibrated, she added.

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But she said STB has been working on marketing in markets including China. Smaller group travel with customised itineraries and a preference for deeper – rather than “bucket list” – experiences are newer trends among Chinese tourists, she said.

Tan added that STB hopes to see traffic from China return to between 30 and 60 per cent of pre-Covid levels for the full year.

The tourism board also updated that as at September 2022, the total tourism workforce is around 65,000 – about 78 per cent of 2019 levels. Jeannie Lim, STB assistant chief executive, policy and planning group, noted that hiring efforts aim to fill about 3,000 job vacancies in the tourism sector over the next year or two.

In December last year, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia topped Singapore’s list of visitor source markets. For the full year, the top three source markets were Indonesia (1.1 million), India (686,000) and Malaysia (591,000). China did not rank among the top 10.

In the first three quarters of 2022, Indonesia (S$1.1 billion), India (S$704 million) and Australia (S$633 million) were the top contributors to tourism receipts, which totalled S$8.96 billion for the nine months.

In the last nine months of 2022, when Singapore removed quarantine requirements for fully-vaccinated travellers, visitors’ average length of stay was approximately 4.81 days, up from 3.36 days for the same period in 2019. A smaller percentage of daytrippers, days for leisure tacked onto business travel and pent-up demand contributed to the increase in length of stay, STB said.

Meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) also had a stronger 2022 as Covid-era restrictions eased. The year saw the return of marquee international events such as Food and Hotel Asia’s trade shows and the Singapore Fintech Festival, as well as new events, STB said.

Leisure events also made a comeback, with the Formula 1 race drawing a record 302,000 attendees, the Tour de France Prudential Singapore Criterium debuting in South-east Asia, and “regular crowd pleasers” such as the Singapore Food Festival and Christmas Wonderland welcoming visitors.

As demand for leisure and business travel strengthened in 2022, the hotel industry “posted an encouraging year”. From April to December, average room rates were up 17 per cent from the corresponding period in 2019 to S$260, and revenue per available room increased by 6.2 per cent to S$206.

The average occupancy rate for the nine months last year, however, was 79.1 per cent, compared to April to December 2019’s 87.3 per cent. Some 465 new rooms were opened for the full year.

In the cruise industry, passenger throughput was about two-thirds of pre-pandemic 2019 levels at 1.2 million. There were over 230 ship calls. The deployment of ships by Resorts World Cruises and Royal Caribbean International and two new cruise lines – Silversea Cruises and TUI Cruises – that made Singapore their seasonal homeport after the resumption of sailings with ports of call in July supported cruising’s return.

To rebuild tourism demand and boost Singapore’s attractiveness in 2022, STB collaborated with brands, partnered with “industry leaders” such as airlines and travel booking platforms, and added new and improved attractions and tours, it said. It also focused on sustainability and enhanced urban wellness offerings.

This year, STB plans to further support the development of experiences and attractions such as Bird Paradise @ Mandai Wildlife Reserve. It will also secure more Mice and leisure events using S$110 million over the next two years, from the S$500 million set aside for tourism recovery in April 2022. This has already begun with events such as Art SG and Sail GP in January.

KEYWORDS IN THIS ARTICLE

• Singapore tourism expected to recover in 2024, S$110m to be pumped into new events
• Here’s what needs to change as Chinese tourists return

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Singapore’s 2023 tourism receipts hit S$27.2 billion, may hit record S$29 billion in 2024

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Singapore's tourism industry to get boost from new attractions and roadmap

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Singapore's tourism sector is getting a boost, with the Porsche Experience Centre set to open by 2027 and a wellness attraction planned for Marina South. The Singapore Tourism Board has also upgraded its forecast for tourism receipts to reach a record of between S$27.5 billion and S$29 billion, while a long-term strategy aims to identify new opportunities and drive the next bound of growth. Kate Low reports.

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How the Singapore Tourism Board uses data to personalise tourism

By GovInsider

The tourism board has developed a data analytics network to analyse tourist movements and boost the hospitality and retail industries.

Image:  Pixabay - CC BY 2.0

Boosting hospitality and retail with data

Publicis wins $73m Singapore Tourism Board fightback

The travel industry is likely to be a relatively big spender post pandemic, and the Singapore Tourism Board has entrusted a budget of $73 million over the next five years to Publicis Groupe’s latest Power of One team, called Shophouse.

After a pitch against WPP, Havas and Omnicom, Publicis Groupe won out with a team made up of BBH, Zenith, Digitas and production house Prodigious. TBWA, which has had the creative account for the last six years, did not repitch for Omnicom, which instead put up BBDO. VMLY&R pitched for WPP and BLKJ for Havas.

Amrita Randhawa, CEO Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia, led the pitch. She said: “I thank everyone at STB for placing their trust in the integrated Power of One offer that we have dubbed The Shophouse @ Publicis. We are humbled, excited and can’t wait to get started on the strategic challenge of helping STB navigate tourism recovery in the coming years.” Amrita, CEO Publicis Groupe Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Chang Chee Pey, assistant chief executive of marketing at the STB, said: ” As travel gradually resumes, we are excited to work with The Shophouse to recapture demand and strengthen Singapore’s appeal as a safe, vibrant and forward-looking destination. Together with our new partners, we look forward to delivering agile, bold and creative marketing that will support Singapore’s tourism recovery.”

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Budget 2020

Budget 2020.

As the first step in a wider set of measures to help tourism businesses mitigate the immediate impact of the COVID-19 virus, licence fees for hotels, travel agents and tourist guides for 2020 have been waived. Hotels that provided accommodationi to suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases can claim up to 50% of third party cleaning costs. Please refer to STB's press release for more information.

Further measures were announced at Budget 2020, and a Resilience Budget was announced on 26 March 2020.

For more information, please email us at [email protected] . 

About the Organisation

What industry does your organization fall within, what best describes the key intent of the project that your organisation is seeking funding for, is your organisation a singapore-registered legal entity, is your organisation an association, is the project able to achieve one or more of the following outcome.

• Increase no. of sailings to/from Singapore
• Increase no. of foreign cruise passengers to Singapore through sailings to/from Singapore
• Increase no. of pre/post nights for cruise passengers sailing to/from Singapore
• Increase capability of industry players via cruise-specific industry training programmes
• Strengthen the potential/ attractiveness of cruising in Singapore and/or Southeast Asia

Is the project able to achieve one or more of the following?

• Improve visitor satisfaction (especially foreign visitors)
• Increase footfall
• Increase revenue
• Significant branding and PR value

Is the project able to attract foreign visitors and contribute to foreign visitors' spend?

Who will be the main target audience of your project, is your project innovative and/or a new event in singapore with tourism potential, what best describes your project, does the event have proven track records in singapore or overseas, and/or growth in tourism value such as growing foreign visitorship, and/or enhancement of precinct vibrancy etc, does the project have a clear tourism focus (e.g. tourism-related trainings, tourism companies taking on capability development initiatives or technology companies creating technology products and services for the tourism businesses), what best describes your market feasibility study project.

Based on your selection, the following STB grant/s may be applicable for your project:

Please note that projects that have commenced prior to Singapore Tourism Board's offer may not be eligible for grant support. Examples where projects are deemed as having commenced include:

• Applicant has started work on the project e.g. tender has been called.
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