Singapore Tourism Development Fund to get $700m boost from 2016 to 2020

It's to aid the local tourism sector's transformation.

The Singapore Tourism Development Fund is poised to see a windfall to the tune of $700m over the next five years, according to Minister of Trade and Industry S Iswaran.

“To underscore the government’s continued commitment to work with the industry to drive tourism growth, we are allocating S$700 million to a third tranche of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF) from 2016 to 2020,” said Iswaran in a speech at the Tourism Industry Conference in 2016.

Iswaran also stated that the funding is similar in scale to the second tranche of the TDF.

Further, the $700m sum will be channeled towards product development to ensure that Singapore remains a preferred destination for visitors; the technology adoption and innovation to improve productivity; as well as the enhancement of manpower capabilities to ensure that Singapore workers have the right skills to reap the benefits of industry growth.