After a stagnant 2009 due to the depressed state of the global economy, tourism in Singapore appears to be back on track following the recent announcement that visitor arrivals to the country grew by 17.6 per cent year-on-year in January 2010 to reach 908,000 visitors - the highest ever recorded in that month.
The turnaround can be attributed to the recent openings of Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, the campaigns from STB to attract visitors to the island, which includes its BOOST (Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism) initiative, and the improving state of the economy.
Anita Yeong, strategic planning director, OMD Singapore, believes these factors remain vital to tourism growth: “With the launch of BOOST last year, there is a lot of potential for Singapore to become one of Asia’s leading lifestyle and entertainment capitals. The growing number of luxury shopping malls along Orchard in the last six months is a clear indication of the city-state catering to the influx of tourists visiting the new resorts.”
Data released from the STB showed that Indonesia, China, Australia, Malaysia, and India were Singapore’s top five visitor-generating markets in January (accounting for 54 per cent of total visitor arrivals for the month) with huge growth rates from Indonesia and Malaysia (46.7 per cent and 53.4 per cent respectively), as well as South Korea (54.5 per cent). In addition, there were 99,000 visitors from China in January. As Singapore now has approved destination status from the Chinese government, many believe China’s burgeoning tourist numbers will fuel growth and generate revenue in years to come.
Paul French, founder of Access Asia believes that Singapore’s new resort openings, as well as aviation changes will only mean more visitors from China: “The new terminal at Changi Airport just for budget airlines makes visiting the island more affordable. Once the two new mega casinos hit their stride, this will allow Singapore to compete with Macau, which will be a big lure for the millions of mainland Chinese who have a propensity to gamble.”
But it isn’t solely China that Singapore is looking to entice tourists from. STB is embarking on a new global campaign, changing its tagline from ‘Uniquely Singapore’ to ‘YourSingapore’. According to Ken Low, assistant chief executive of STB’s marketing group, the board has to “embrace global trends and shift in media consumption” and as such has put digital at the forefront of this marketing assault with a new website, significant investment into search marketing, blogger engagement, mobile, social media and travel e-commerce.
Early feedback on the site has been positive and Guillaume Conteville, regional director at MEC, feels it reflects Singapore’s positioning as an experience destination: “The campaign builds on the reasons why people visit Singapore - for new experiences, not landmarks. The site sells Singapore as a place packed with fresh experiences in an easy-to-navigate environment.”
Conteville believes that as most travel purchasing decisions are now made online, it is vital that those in the sector develop their presence there, a feat easier said than done. “There are a lot of attempts at creating buzz with social media but very few significant successes,” he says. “It’s difficult to ask consumers to come and interact on branded platforms, when they are already very active on networks like TripAdvisor. Similarly, on those established travel networking platform, consumers very rarely welcome a commercially motivated interruption.”
While marketing strategies are the areas brands and agencies must reach agreement on, the overall consensus is that Singapore is very much on course to becoming firmly established as a desirable tourist location and not just for overseas visitors, but locals too. As Anita Yeong points out: “Not only is Singapore encouraging overseas tourists to come in, we are enticing Singaporeans to have ‘staycations’. Resorts, hotels and attractions are designing packages specifically for locals.”
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This article was originally published in the 25 March 2010 issue of Media.
New resorts see Singapore's tourism sector thrive
After its most successful January ever, following the recent openings of Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's tourism sector is determined to keep its momentum.
