Tourists to Singapore attracted to twins

Singapore is looking down the barrel of the first overall decline in tourist numbers since 2008—the dawn of the Global Financial Crisis. In fairness, 2014 has been a bad year. Tragic travel disasters and regional instability have both hurt tourist numbers - most obviously from China, though other markets have also been impacted. What is clear though is that an incident in one country in our region can have an impact on all of South East Asia.

Promotion is not the issue. The Singapore Tourism Board, The National Association of Travel Agents of Singapore, Singapore Airlines, and Changi Airport Group have been more than pulling their weight marketing-wise. You have to go a long, long way to find organisations doing a better job promoting a destination.

Maybe the tourism sector needs to rethink how we market regional destinations. Perhaps the future lies not just in promoting Singapore, but promoting Singapore as a safe and secure hub for regional ‘experiences on demand’. This would increase Singapore’s portfolio of attractions, and provide high-value visitors with the quality assurance for which the Lion City is known.

What tourism can learn from...well...business

Recently Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, commented that strong economic partnerships between countries in the region were key to mutual economic development and growth. The context of these words was in relation to trade agreements, and opening up markets.

But the Minister’s comments hit a chord with me in relation to the development of tourist destinations, especially following feedback I had received from the travel industry overseas. Other countries have long recognised the mutual value of tourists visiting multiple destinations.

For example, if you’re going to go all the way to New Zealand…you may as well go a bit closer to the middle of nowhere and visit Australia. There are mutual benefits for both the travellers and each destination, especially when there are different visitor experiences available.

The allure of twins and a beach

Having recently attended (by proxy) the Virtuoso Travel Week, the premier marketing event for luxury travel agents, I was struck by a number of very interesting comments made about destinations and the demand for regional travel. Tourists from the USA, Australia, and New Zealand wanted more than ‘just’ a trip to Singapore.

They wanted twins...well, twin destinations. They wanted a beach, an adventure, a safari, and they wanted to do this through a hub—Singapore. Top leisure agents from Australia and New Zealand were very enthusiastic about their clients being able to visit island get-away destinations like Bawah, Tioman, and Bintan. They viewed this experience as being enhanced by using Singapore as a regional base.

Adventure and safari specialists from the US, likewise, saw the benefits of offering something different with ‘wild’ being twinned with the unique offerings of Singapore. US-based agents said they are starting to get more requests for South-East Asian destinations, and this concept was in demand.

Adding to the attraction 

I believe there are considerable benefits across the region in promoting twinned experiences. Singapore is clearly the region’s travel hub. Tourism operations based out of Singapore would benefit regional operators (many based here), and neighbouring countries enormously.

Picture this: A seaplane takes off from outside the Marina Bay Sands, it majestically rises over the CBD and Singapore Flyer….on its way to a luxury island resort in Indonesia. It does this twice a day. What would this image do for Singapore’s tourism reputation? As the Minister said (sort of), we’re all in this together. And together we can be stronger. Tourism operations and marketing is no different.