Discuss About The Performance Of Tourism Sector With Global.
The craze of exploring new places for leisure and business purposes has increased over the years. The majority of the population takes the pleasure of tourism for enjoying their time out from the hectic and fast-paced life. According to the World Tourism Organization, tourism is defined as the limited holiday activity that people undertakes for staying outside their home for few days. Tourism can be both international and domestic depending on the nature and budget of the tourists. Due to the economic recession in the late 2000, tourism had suffered a slowdown between 2008 and 2009. However, it has recovered successfully post 2009 and the tourism sector rose to US $1.03 trillion since then. Reports suggest that international tourism has surpassed the milestone of 1 billion for the first time in 2012. The most emerging tourism market ate China, Russia and Brazil.
Tourism plays a crucial role for the economic growth of the country, as it acts the sole source of income for particular regions of the countries. As commented by Jucan and Jucan (2013), tourism is important as it is considered as an activity that influences directly the economic, cultural, social and cultural aspect of the region. It has been seen that tourism brings in large amount of income in to the local economy, as the tourist flourishes the places with the activities and purchases they do. In addition to, increased demand of tourism results in greater opportunity of employment for the region. The various service industries that are benefitted by the tourism are air and land transportation, hospitality industry and shopping. Thus, it can be said the country or the regions needs to have qualified and enough work force to meet and surpass the expectation of the tourists.
As commented by Andergassen, Candela and Figni (2013), the increased rate of tourism is highly dependent on the available work force the country of the region has for attending the tourists. It has been seen that the tourist expect greater concern and attention by the local people of the regions while they visit a particular place. It behavior and attitude of the local people enhances the experience of the tourists. For instance, well-behaved staffs of the hotels they stay in, the transport they use and the locals they communicate with lifts up the expectations of the tourists. Thus, having adequate and qualified work force in the tourism sector of the country is highly demanded and expected. This is because the first impression created by the country will help in retaining the tourists for future thereby, securing the economy of the place (Webster and Ivanov 2014).
In this report, tourism is redefined in terms of encompassing the tourism for the country, reformulating the product for cities like London, New York and Paris that leaves deep impression in the mind of the tourists. The report also focuses on developing tourism as an industry for the impeccable impact it has on the economy of the country. In addition to, the report also considers configuring the tourism space by considering regionalization as the key strategy for the economic development of Singapore and collaborating for success by creating a vision. Considering the economic status of Singapore, making tourism as the key economic pillar will be beneficial for Singapore in various ways.
The above figure highlights the integrated model of tourism that comprises of three layers. The three layers are the external environment, tourism services suppliers and the tourism promoters. Each of the layers is further comprised of several factors that help in promoting tourism by satisfying the needs, expectations and demands of the tourists.
The outer layer, external environment comprises of the society or culture, environment, technology, politics and economy. Considering the significance of the society or culture, environment, technology, politics and economy currently, the political scenario of Singapore is aiming towards promoting tourism by using appropriate technology. Additionally, the culture and the surrounding environment in Singapore are also developed with the aim of developing tourism.
One of component of the outer layer of the integrated tourism model is the society and culture. According to Ho (2013), the society and culture of a destination plays a significant role in attracting tourists and promoting tourism. The tourist prefers and expect friendly and homely environment when they visit a destination. Singapore has been regarded as a friendly, safe, modern and family-oriented tourist destination over the years. This is due to the surrounding society and culture Singapore promotes for their tourists. The Singaporean culture highlights a mixture of Asian and European cultures. The society and culture of the country also highlights harmony and several religions live together happily and with respect. The national flag of Singapore highlights democracy, progress, peace and equality that are major components of the Singaporean society (Gomes 2014). The society and culture of Singapore is highly appealing and sheds light on the positive aspect that is essential for attracting tourists. However, the government is taking an initiative for taking promoting the cultural and societal aspect of Singapore globally.
Another significant component of the external environment of the integrated model of tourism is environment. According to Li and Tan (2016), apart from the society and culture, the surrounding environment is also important in promoting tourism. The tourists like to visit places that have vast nature and lack pollution. This allows the tourists to enjoy and get lost in the natural environment. As mentioned by Ahamed et al. (2016), it has been seen that tourist prefer to visit places with great natural environment, as they prefer to relax and sooth themselves from the hassle and fast paced life. In the case of Singapore, the environment is an issue due to increased development and urbanization. Industrial pollution, seasonal smoke, limited availability of land and haze are common environmental issues in Singapore. Thus, it can be said that increasing environmental issues are hampering the tourism of Singapore, as tourists do not prefer to visit places with environmental issues. The government of Singapore is taking measures to eradicate the environmental issues for improving tourism.
Another significant component of the external environment of the integrated model of tourism is technology. As mentioned by Ho (2014), technology promotes tourism largely, as the use of advanced technology allows the destination to provide unexpected services and leisure facilities to the tourists. Issues have been identified in terms of hotel facilities and travel agent industries in Singapore that results in tourist declination. Lack of using advanced technology and appropriate use of technology is hampering the Singaporean tourism. Thus, it is proposed that the Singaporean tourism industry can better leverage technology in order to drive quality growth. The government of Singapore is facilitating and highlighting the use of technology for sharpening marketing thereby, outreaching efforts and refreshing tourism offerings. This initiative by the Singaporean government will result in greater productivity. It is even proposed that use of advanced technology appropriately will result in record highs in the coming years for Singapore (Fozer et al. 2017). The Tourism Innovation Challenges aim towards taking the business forward by transforming tourism by adopting technology.
Another significant component of the external environment of the integrated model of tourism is politics. It is the politics of the nation that determines and promotes tourism of a country (Singh 2017). The government develops rules, regulations and policies that facilitate tourism. It can be said that the politics of Singapore aim largely towards promoting tourism. Tourists do not prefer to visit destination that are politically unstable and encounters political issues frequently. The politics of Singapore highlights democracy and provides equal rights to the population. Singapore has stable politics and a proactive government that take initiatives for the betterment of the country. Political and Economic Risk Consultancy states that Singapore has the lowest political risk. In spite of the proactive and stable nature of the government, Singapore reports restriction of freedom of speech and fear of lawsuit. In addition to, political corruption also exists that hampers the Singaporean tourism. However, the proactive and stable nature of the Singaporean politics promotes tourism and is taking initiatives for promoting tourism (Ong 2015).
Another significant component of the external environment of the integrated model of tourism is economy. After the devastating and brutal attack on 11th September of the World Trade Centre, economic slowdown was noticed globally. As a result, the tourist arrival to Singapore declined by 2.2% from 7.69 million in 2000 to 7.52 million in 2001 (Pelzer et al. 2014). The declination hampered the economic condition Singapore largely. Otherwise, it can be said that Singapore has free market economy that is developing at a faster pace since the declination. The highly motivated and educated work force results in strengthening the economic condition of the country. Recently, the Singaporean government has aimed towards diversifying the economic condition of the country by taking initiatives in promoting tourism. In addition to, cheap labor cost also helps in facilitating tourism, as the government has to pay minimal for proving service to the tourists thereby, attracting them (Ruamsuke, Dhakal and Marpaung 2015).
The middle layer, tourism services suppliers comprises of the destinations, attractions, entertainment, transportation, accommodation, food and beverages. Singapore is allowing highly smooth transportation, authentic cuisines and destinations in the outskirts as the attractions for the tourists by promoting their locals. In accordance with the significance of the second layer, it can be said that Singapore needs to improve the destinations, attractions, entertainment, transportation, accommodation, food and beverages for promoting tourism.
One of the significant components of the second layer of the integrated tourism model is destinations. As mentioned by Pandza Bajs (2015), the attractive destinations help in attracting the tourists from all over the world. Singapore is considered as the playground for rich tourists. This is because the city has high-end shopping malls, luxury hotels and various fine dining. In addition to, the country has diverse ethnic quarters and vibrant history that attracts the tourists. The urban part of Singapore has various places for the tourists to explore and visit. It includes the Universal Studios Singapore, Singapore Flyer, Night Safari Nocturnal Wildlife Park, Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay, Sentosa Island, Merlion Park, Clarke Quay, and Underwater World. Currently, the Singapore has been successful in maintaining the existing tourist spots and attracting the tourists around the world. However, considering the recent trend among the tourists, Singapore needs to provide unexplored nature and adventurous places for attracting the tourists.
Another significant component of the second environment of the integrated model of tourism is attraction and entertainment. Singapore is a high-end country that provides various tourist attraction and modes of entertainment that helps in keeping the tourists engaged during their stay. As mentioned previously, the various tourist attractions in Singapore are Universal Studios Singapore, Singapore Flyer, Night Safari Nocturnal Wildlife Park, Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay, Sentosa Island, Merlion Park, Clarke Quay, and Underwater World. Apart from the various tourist attractions, Singapore offers different forms of entertaining the tourists. For example, the tourists can have an extraordinary view of the entire city by taking a ride in the Singapore eye. In the Universal Studio, the tourists are allowed to take rides, visit the Madagascar Island and shake hand with Shrek. In addition to, Orchard Road is the epitome of shopping spree that allows the tourists to shop till they drop along with local and international departmental stores (Katircioglu 2014).
Another significant component of the second environment of the integrated model of tourism is transportation. The three most used transportation modes in Singapore are Mass rapid Transit, buses and taxis out of which buses are the most common mode of transportation. This indicates advanced and well-connected transport system in Singapore that allows the tourists to explore any places without issues in terms of transport. Singapore Tourist Pass is the only pass that allows the tourists to ride unlimitedly on public transport. Thus, it is cost-effective and less time consuming for the tourists. The Singapore Tourist Pass is a special ex-link cards that allows the tourists to travel without any limit in Singapore’s MRT, LRT, trains and buses. The card is wallet friendly and the tourist does not have to worry about having insufficient balance for transporting throughout Singapore. For example, one day pass is costs only $10, two day pass costs only $16 and three day pass costs only $20. The tourists are able to travel unlimitedly during the operating hours by putting the balance in the pass. In addition to, the tourists has the advantage of getting a refund when they return the card while leaving Singapore (The Singapore Tourist Pass 2018).
Another significant component of the second environment of the integrated model of tourism is food and beverages. It can be said that the Singaporean cuisine is diverse, as it is composed of components of several ethnic groups. Reports suggest that in Singapore, food is considered as a national identity that unites the cultural thread. It has been mention in Singaporean literature that eating is a national pastime and food is a national obsession (Choo 2018). The local foods of Singapore are delicious and are highly enjoyed by the tourists. Some of the famous local foods of Singapore are Bak Kut Teh, Wanton Mee, Fried Carrot cake, Dim Sum, Crabs, curry fish head, laksa and kaya toast and soft boiled eggs. The best places to enjoy Singaporean cuisine are the hawker centers or the local fare, fast foods, restaurant and cafes and high-end dining. The tourists prefer both local Singaporean cuisine as well as high-end dining.
Another significant component of the second environment of the integrated model of tourism is accommodation. Singapore provides both cheap and high-end luxurious hotels as accommodation for the tourist. Singapore has aimed towards providing the best accommodation facilities to the tourist in order to uplift their living experiences. Considering the diverse type of tourists that Singapore has each year, Singapore offers accommodation for tourists that fulfills all their demands and expectations in terms of services, price and entertainment. The accommodations offered by Singapore are developed by keeping in mind the present needs and demands of the tourists. The accommodation has room services, escort services and call-on services. However, Singapore is aiming towards developing their accommodation services in order to provide impeccable living experience to the tourists (Mihalic 2013). STB is supporting the Hotel Transformation Map by using the business improvement fund for supporting over 70 projects. As a result, the hotels are able to use the funds for increasing the work force in areas such as food and beverages, housekeeping and front office. In addition to, STB also introduced Hotel Retrofitting Grant that provides an opportunity for the hotels with legacy for building constraints in order to promote productivity by retrofitting works.
The inner layer, tourism promoters comprises of the tour operators, tourist boards, direct marketing, travel agents and incentive and meeting planners. As compared the government of Singapore is using varied and innovative marketing strategies for attracting the tourists across the globe in collaboration with the tourist boards, travel agents and planners. The government has also developed six major objectives for promoting tourism of Singapore.
One of the significant components of the second layer of the integrated tourism model is tour operators. Singapore is a global city with tourists from all over the world. Singapore is also the only island city-state in the world. The Singaporean economy is one of the freest economies and is ranked as the county with least corruption. It is important for the business organizations to register them in Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. The tour operators of Singapore also have to register them with ACRA thereby, smooth conduction of services related to travel and tourism. The tour operators provide services to the tourists in terms of airlines, car rentals, travel insurance, railways, hotels and cruise lines. Apart from dealing and handling with common tourists, the tour operators have a separate department that is engaged in making travel related arrangements for business travelers. The various tour operators in Singapore are SH Tours Pte Ltd., Trafalgar tours, City tours and Thomas Cook (Henderson 2015).
Another significant component of the internal environment of the integrated model of tourism is tourist boards. The tourist board of Singapore is known as Singapore Tourism Board (STB) that is a statutory board under Ministry of Trade and Industry. The principle aim of Singapore Tourism Board is to promote the tourism sector of the country. Singapore Tourism Board was established in 1964 that was initially named as Singapore Tourism Promotion Board (STPB). The core responsibility of Singapore Tourism Board is to coordinate with the airlines, hotels and travel agents in order to develop the tourism sector of the country. In addition to STB also facilitated the development of the infrastructure of hotels as well as various tourist destinations such as the Sentosa Island and Jurong Bird Park. STP looks into all the aspects of tourism that includes allocating resources by implementing long-term strategic planning. For instance, STB has opened offices around the globe that helps in promoting Singapore as a tourist destination actively around the globe. The Singaporean government has allocated $905 million to the Singapore Tourism Board till 2018 out of which one third of the resources is planned to be used for building man power by proper education and developing skills (Gov.sg 2018). The Singapore Tourism Board has shown rapid growth since its establishment. For example, Singapore had only 8 million tourists in 2004 that maximized to 17 million by 2015. Singapore Tourism Board predicted a rise in visitors by 20-25% in March 2010 due to the opening of Marina Bay and Sentosa Island. Singapore Tourism Board is working hard to promote the tourism of the country thereby, aiming towards establishing tourism as a key economic pillar for the country.
Another significant component of the internal environment of the integrated model of tourism is direct marketing. According to Armstrong et al. (2015), direct marketing helps in attracting tourists more effectively thereby, maximizing the tourist influx. The medium-term marketing strategy has been undertaken by Singapore Tourism Board in order to combat with the fast changing tourism and consumer landscape that has given rise to increased and fierce competition in the market. This marketing strategy will allow Singapore Tourism Board to respond to challenges and identify the opportunities thereby, positioning Singapore in the long term (Manjur et al. 2018). The three major marketing strategies are furnished below:
Another significant component of the internal environment of the integrated model of tourism is travel agents and incentive and meeting planners. The tour operators of Singapore also have to register them with ACRA thereby, smooth conduction of services related to travel and tourism. The tour operators provide services to the tourists in terms of airlines, car rentals, travel insurance, railways, hotels and cruise lines. Apart from dealing and handling with common tourists, the tour operators have a separate department that is engaged in making travel related arrangements for business travelers. The various tour operators in Singapore are SH Tours Pte Ltd., Trafalgar tours, City tours and Thomas Cook (Mihalic 2013).
All the three layers of the integrated model comprises of the various factors that helps in promoting tourism of particular place by prioritizing the tourists.
Being an international destination, Singapore has seen huge success since the year 1965, after becoming an independent republic. The tourism development is being considered as a wider program of physical and economic centralized planning that has transformed the island to a huge extent. Moreover, the government has also become active in terms of tourism policies and created attractions as well as infrastructures, enabling the city-state become a centre for business and leisure tourism. Singapore is constantly investing and upgrading their strategies and sometimes even, re-inventing (Henderson 2016). However, the government authorities are facing some challenges because of the general development pressures. On top of it, the changing circumstances are also demanding reappraisal and redefining of the tourism policies as well as underlying assumptions.
In modern days, travelers seek timely access to the relevant services, information and quality experiences that have become more discerning than before. For providing them with personalized and seamless travel experiences, the Singapore Tourism Board is planning to redefine the tourism into a serious business. Being the largest sector of business, tourism planning has not only affected the Gross Domestic Product, but also the Gross National Product. The overall transformation of the industry in Singapore depends on mainly three factors; deepening the insights of the tourism business on the needs of the visitors, delivering quality services as well as experiences to both the locals and visitors and lastly, by connecting the businesses for effective and efficient exchange as well as sharing of services and content (Clc.gov.sg 2018).
In order to accelerate the transformation of the tourism industry in Singapore, the city-state needs to make significant investments in the digital platforms. These digital platforms include the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (STAN) and the Tourism Information and Services Hub (TIH). These significant investments can help in contributing huge chunk to the overall economy of Singapore, as tourism is the key economic pillar of their overall development (Gov-and-public.apacciooutlook.com 2018). TIH is considered to be the digital resource platform, which enables the businesses to deliver key tourism services and information to the customers easily by their digital devices or mobile phones.
Redefining tourism can enable the businesses to enhance their services for the tourists. Moreover, making significant investments on TIH can enable the tourism business to draw its services or information from the digital platforms. This will help the customers to gain more information from the digital sources, regarding the city-state’s tourism. In addition to this, TIH will enable enhanced and more seamless information for the visitors (Visitsingapore.com 2018). With the Tourism Information and Services Hub, the businesses will just have to update their product related information once and the details will be updated across the network via digital media platforms like mobile apps, websites and others (Andergassen, Candela and Figni 2013).
It can be said that from making these significant investments on the digital platforms, Singapore can get hugely benefitted as the free and open platform will offer tourism businesses with increased exposure. In addition to this, the updating and sharing of services and contents to a wider segment of audience will prove to be much more effective as well as efficient. Moreover, the region should promote its pages on its official websites like posting a variety of Singapore videos, images and tourism related content (Lee et al. 2016). These factors will enable the tourism business of the place to contribute to the economy. Together with the visitor centers, Singapore’s tourism business can ensure delivering rich as well as quality experiences to its visitors.
In order to boost tourism, the government officials need to invest a certain amount for the place’s overall development. The Tourism Development Fund should start focusing on Singapore’s tourism products that is destination and attraction spots. In addition to this, improving productivity by investing on man power and technology will also prove to be beneficial. On one hand, the government officials of the city-state is promising significant opportunities for the long term and on the other, period fluctuations resulting from the uncertainties in the economy can affect the key source markets (Straitstimes.com 2018).
The Singapore Tourism Board has shared some agency strategies for the upcoming years, like incorporating new marketing efforts and investing upon digital platforms. These strategies can help the tourism board to succeed and impact upon the economy of the city-state. The main objective is to transform Singapore into a unified and single ‘mega-attraction’ for the tourists, which can be enabled by smart kiosks and one-stop mobile applications, at the key tourist hot spots (Henderson 2015).
The tourism sector of Singapore, presently, contributes four percent to the Gross Domestic Product of the region. The tourism plays an immensely important role in reinforcing the city-state’s status as the vibrant city for businesses, talent and capital. It also helps in enhancing the diversity as well as quality of the leisure options for the local residents. In addition to this, it has helped to create an environment of living, which the Singaporeans can proudly call home. The Singapore Tourism Board champions the overall development of the city-state’s tourism department (Stb.gov.sg 2018). The tourism sector is one of the key economic pillars and service sectors, which undertakes the promotion and marketing of Singapore as a destination spot.
Singapore Tourism Board strives to ensure that the tourism remains a major economic pillar, by long term planning, driving innovation, ensuring excellence and forging partnerships in the tourism segment. However, the Singapore Tourism Board should continue to odder customized as well as empowering experiences to the tourists from all across the world. It is immensely necessary for the board to differentiate Singapore as the vibrant destination, which should have the potential of inspiring people to deepen and share their passions. Moreover, in this aspect, international marketing is also important for Singapore’s business and tourism purposes. In order to redefine the tourism products of Singapore, the board should regularly update and review the regulatory framework of tourism (Board 2015). This would ensure the relevance in the current environment of tourism business and provide incentives as well as support to the private sectors.
It is true that the Singapore Tourism Board will lead to the tourism development and contribute a huge amount to their economy. However, the tourism board alone cannot redefine or reformulate the tourism products and thus, needs continuous support from the industry players (Andergassen, Candela and Figni 2013). Their support is immensely crucial for ensuring the sustainable growth and success of the tourism sector. As per Board (2014), the growing challenges are the increasing discerning travelers, scarcity of the resources and therefore, focusing on the yield driven quality growth is needed. The Singapore Tourism Board and the players of the tourism industry need to work in collaboration, in order to create and incorporate values for the visitors.
The Singapore Tourism Board needs to facilitate their sharing of expertise, resources and experiences among the industry players in order to raise the industrial competitiveness and capabilities, maximizing the business opportunities as well as forge long term partnerships. Therefore, active participation and strong support from the Singaporeans are imperative for the development of the tourism sector (Kirá?ová and Pavlí?eka 2015). Tourism is approached as experiential business and thus, the strategies should include renewal of the strategies in order to cater to the most number of visitors (Andergassen, Candela and Figni 2013).
The residents of Singapore play an immensely important role in the development of the tourism sector by being an integral part of the city-state’s appeal and identity. The Singapore Tourism Board should continue to work with the industry partners in order to nurture and enhance public engagement as the part of the tourism development efforts. In addition to this, each local Singaporean is considered to be the potential advocate for tourism. With their collective energies and ideas, the department can contribute to city-state’s sustainable development and economic growth (Zhu et al. 2018).
In order to navigate the tourism sector all through the next growth phase, the Singapore Tourism Board should pursue Quality Tourism. The Quality Tourism is a model of the development of tourism, which emphasizes upon strong economic contribution, local engagement and innovative enterprise (Henderson 2015). It is true that Singapore as a destination or tourist spot is facing a challenging marketing environment in modern days. Customers are becoming more tech-savvy and therefore, the city-state should use this factor for marketing their tourism products. Traditional marketing is not enough for promoting Singapore Tourism, and thus, the officials need to utilize the digital space for formulating its tourism products (Kirá?ová and Pavlí?eka 2015).
Singapore is facing a multitude of the resource constraints and continuing its battle against the competitive scene. The tourism board needs to establish and enhance their marketing efforts in order to increase as well as improve their productivity. In addition to this, it is important for the tourism sector to take into consideration, the scope, budget and approach of the industry (Andergassen, Candela and Figni 2013). Along with the competition and challenges arising, the city-state needs to evolve its marketing further, for better capitalization on the fast changing trends and also realize the opportunities (Visitsingapore.com 2018).
The Singapore Tourism Board has formulated many strategies that would include the developmental strategies of Singapore. This is required in order to improve the economy of the country. Singapore is unable to make progress in the economic field. It lacks in the field of good education compared to other countries. Singapore has an extremely well opportunity of tourism. The country is able to generate great benefits from tourism. This is the reason the Singapore Tourism Board has planned to develop the tourism aspect in the country by formulating few strategies. The tourism industry is the most successful industry in Singapore. The strategic planning includes the long-term strategic plan that are formulated for the growing markets, it includes the investments that might be interesting and it further includes the development of the hardware and the software in order to develop tourism (Sharpley and Telfer 2015).
The Singapore tourism board have taken the initiative to conduct the regular environment scans. It analyses the trend of tourism it identifies the latest trend. It takes the effort to extract the external as well as the internal perspectives. These perspectives have enabled the board to form long-term developmental plan. This will strictly head towards the sustainable growth of the tourism sector. The board makes an extensive study of the latest trend followed by the people and they formulate an effective plan according to the likings of the people. This would enable the board to improve the economy of the country (Chen et al. 2017).
One of the most important strategies of the Singapore tourism board (STB) is to grow to improve the market of target visitors in the country. The board has twenty regional offices and four marketing representatives that are actively build in the mind share and affinity of Singapore as an attractive leisure. It ensures the fact that the country is a good business destination. In making the country, a good business destination the board would strengthen the economy of the country and it would enhance the market presence of the country in their respective regions across the country (Purwomarwanto and Ramachandran 2015).
The board tries to extract huge amount of funds from the foreign tourism companies. In order to make the country successful in the tourism industry investments from the foreign tourism company is majorly required. The STB does this through the sites that are available for the investment needed in tourism. The investments are required to gather funds that would be helpful in the economic developmental of the region. The investment fund would be useful for the development of the areas that would attract the tourist and make it the most desirable place for visit (Pham 2015).
STB plans to grow and make sustainable growth and enhance the attractiveness of the country. The country needs to have the infrastructural development. The board plans to bring some new and innovative change in the country. It intends to bring about a scenic change in the country in order to make it the place for experiencing something new. The board takes the initiative to collaborate with the stakeholders of the local industry. The motif behind this is to recreate the precincts that act as the products of attraction for the country. This step would compel the visitors to visit again in the country (Garofano, Martins and Olsen 2017).
In Singapore, tourism is treated as a different industry and sector all together. It is also treated as a major center of economy. It motivates other economic and industrial developmental agencies to support the efforts of investment. Along with this, the legal department has major role to play in this. The government of the country has laid all the support to promote the tourism of the country. It is evident in the event when the Singapore airport was shifted from Paya Lebar to Changi. This was an effort taken by multi-agency that involved exhuming graves thereby, reclamation of the lands. This involved the activity of resettling of the residents. It is the national objectivity of the country to think about the tourism. The progress of the country depends upon the tourism industry. The maximum fund of the country is dependent on this industry. By analyzing the tourism record of the country it was found that the country made remarkable progress in the tourism industry. It was rewarded with the best tourist place in the past years. The industry was enhanced with the vibrant lifestyle and the technologically and culturally advanced factors. It has become one of the common destinations of holiday favored by the visitors (Lee, Hampton and Jeyacheya 2015).
The traditional practice of single-country tourism is complimented by cross-border collaborations in the planning and promotion. There are many suburbs in Singapore that requires attention and they can be explored as a new region for tourism attraction. The board of tourism should concentrate on the factor of collective attractiveness. The region like Bintan Island has not been explored. There are many city states with scarce land resources. The country has turned to regionalization. In order to overcome the spatial constraints, the objective of the same is to stimulate the industry of tourism. Like all the things, it has advantages as well as the disadvantages of the same. It brings many opportunities and it also brings many challenges that are never experienced (Lim and Bouchon 2017).
There are many suburb area located near Singapore that needs some development in the field of tourism. The best example of this is the Bintan Island. The economy of the region is dependent on tourism. In the past years, a coordinating team was set up in the Rio Province Development with the mandate to plan and develop the projects that would add up to the developmental strategy of the region (Henderson 2016). It is the same case in case of Batam, other region adjacent to Bintan Island. It has the capacity to provide leisure space to the people of the Singapore and the tourists. It has white beaches that would serve as good destination for leisure. Bintan Management is known for the resort parks and the industrial parks. Water parks was planned on it and later it became a successful industrial center that manufactured low-value goods. The government should take initiative to develop the industries situated in this area. This area is famous for the privatization of the resorts and the parks. The private ownership sector of the region should make this a point that the local people of the region should be given the opportunity of employment in this region. This will enhance the economy of the region (Chang 2016).
The identified areas that requires development is the industrial sector and the mining sector. There are many outskirt regions in the country and they are good source of natural resources. The development of the mining of bauxite, kaolin, granite, white sand and tin can be explored (Saarinen 2017). The outskirts of the country are usually suburbs. Efforts should be made to turn the suburbs into urban cities. The design of the region should be changed and it should be turned from local suburb region to urban region. This would enable the local people of the suburbs to promote their culture and it would make their living condition better. This would upgrade the social condition of the local people dwelling in that region and improving their lifestyle. An improvement of the suburb area would give rise to more tourists. It would give rise to the fact that the tourist will want to go to these developed suburb area, away from the hussle of the city (Low and Kalekin-Fishman 2017).
The global developments of the urban regions are known as the phenomenon of post-suburbia. It is referred to the change of the process of, ‘suburbanization’. It is concentrated in the developed world from the concentric radial patterns of the earlier decades towards a new structure. Apart from the discussed regions, the other regions that requires development is the downtown which is an area of urban planning. The increased economy are unable to provide employment to a vast majority of the rural migrant. This also include the poor people who are a part of urban population. It is because of less skill, less education and less capital. Singapore is a developed country but there are still many areas that needs development. This would make the country achieve the leading destination of recreation for the tourists (Xie and Gu 2015).
The objective of Singapore Tourism Board (STB) for achieving partnering for success effectively includes working together with industry to build capabilities, reaching out together and improving the experience of the tourists. Improved tourism attributes results in raising productivity, promoting innovations, raising skills, creating good jobs, and generating support for the locals. Thus, Singapore has sharpened the strategy for improving the tourism in spite of the challenging business environment. STB have collaborated with private and public agencies and has underpinned that tourism is not just for tourists but also for the Singaporeans (Clc.gov.sg 2018).
STB is supporting the Hotel Transformation Map by using the business improvement fund for supporting over 70 projects. As a result, the hotels are able to use the funds for increasing the work force in areas such as food and beverages, housekeeping and front office. In addition to, STB also introduced Hotel Retrofitting Grant that provide an opportunity for the hotels with legacy for building constraints in order to promote productivity by retrofitting works. For example, this has helped Shangri-La to retrofit the kitchen and Horizon Club Lounge from the opposite end thereby, cutting down staff movements and ensuring better service for the tourists (Stb.gov.sg 2018).
In order to promote innovations, STB is collaborating with the SHA’s Hotel Innovation Committee. In addition to, the hotels in Singapore are free to work Hotel Productivity Centre and use the latest technologies as well as find new application for it. STB is also promoting Skills Future Earn and Learn Program for the hospitality industry in order to support the establishment of strong pool of talent. The launch of the program is said to be successful as 65 Polytechnics students has already enrolled for the program and around 53 of them have also been employed by the hotels in Singapore (Opengovasia.com 2018).
Singapore Airlines, STB and Changi Airport Group have renewed their joint partnership and have invested $20 million over the past two years to make Singapore as one of the favored tourist destination. The collaboration has been successful in raising awareness about the destination along with improving the experience after arrival in Singapore. STB has said to continue investment in activities such as marketing and work in collaboration thereby, improving the value proposition of the country. In terms of overseas partnership, STB has collaborated with Japan and Australia and signed MOU with JTB Corporation and Flight Centre Travel Group respectively thereby, increasing market penetration. In China, STB has marked digital partnership with the present social media. For example, STB has launched YourSingapore WeChat service for helping the tourists with real time locations. In addition to, STB and the Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia have announced three-year partnership for providing unique and fun experiences to the tourists (www.changiairport.com 2018).
Strong commitment is one of methods of achieving big dreams. In order to make tourism as the key pillar for Singapore, STPB was renamed to Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The renaming of the board does not restricts the promotion rather includes deeper partnerships and developing physical development. In 2002, STB highlighted the decline in the number of visitors that resulted in less than 10% occupancy in the hotels. Thus, in order to make tourism as the key economic pillar, the vision of STB was to make Singapore a vibrant and inspiring destination for the tourists. In addition to, the mission of STB highlighted the aim of shaping Singapore as a dynamic tourism landscape in collaboration with the community and the industries (Stb.gov.sg 2018).
Singapore Tourism Board is a statutory board that falls under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore. The aim of Singapore Tourism Board is to champion the tourism sector and make tourism as the most important service sector that forms the economy of the country. STB aims to make tourism as the key economic pillar by undertaking marketing and promoting Singapore as the tourism destination. The current tourism sector of Singapore contributes almost 4% of the total GDP of Singapore. The role of tourism is impeccable in highlighting Singapore as one of vibrant global city that attracts business, capital and talent. In addition to, it also aim towards improving the diversity and quality of the leisure options for the localities. As a result, STB is offering help for creating a living environment the people of Singapore so that they are proud to call the place as their home (www.stb.gov.sg 2018).
The aim of STB is to make tourism as the key economic pillar by long –term strategic planning, making new ventures and collaborations, promoting innovations and by improving the experience of the tourists and ensuring excellence in the sector. STB achieves this by promoting Singapore as a multi-faceted leisure and business destination by offering customized and empowering experiences. The Passion Made Possible brand is a unified brand between Economic Development Board and STB that allows international marketing of Singapore for both business and tourism purposes. In addition to, STB monitors and updates the regulatory framework of tourism continuously for ensuring relevance with the current business environment. It also provides adequate support to the private sector thereby, providing an opportunity to invest in growth of the country (Stb.gov.sg 2018).
Conclusion
Thus, in this report, it can be concluded that adequate economy is important for the overall development of the nations. In this report, making tourism as the key economic pillar for Singapore is the main motto. From the report, it can be said that over the years, the demand of tourism has increased. This is due to increased demand of both business and leisure activities among the population. Though the tourism sector saw a fall back after the 2000 recession, the tourism sector overcame the fall by 2000 and contributed for the overall economy of the country. Tourism is one of the major sectors that contribute the economy of the countries. This is because improved tourism increases tourist influx thereby, bringing in capital for the country that is then used for the overall development of the place. Better tourism sector provides an opportunity for the country to improve their social life and develop the surrounding infrastructures. Improved tourism also creates higher rate of local employments thereby, generating livelihood for the localities.
The tourism industry of Singapore encountered it lowest in 2002 when the rate of hotel occupancy was less than 10%. Thus, the aim of the Singapore Tourism Board was to make tourism as the key economic pillar of the country. The six principle agenda of Singapore Tourism Board were redefining tourism as a serious business, reformulating the product, reformulating tourism as an industry, configuring the new tourism space, partnering for success and championing tourism. The six aspects of the Singapore Tourism Board helped the country to overcome the loss and make tourism as the key economic pillar for the country. It was seen that both government and public relies on the tourism industry of Singapore largely even if they work with the sector directly or not. In addition to, the aim of emphasizing on the six aspects of Singapore Tourism Board was to revitalize tourism for Singapore by doubling the arrival of the visitors, tripling the receipts of tourism and creating employment for the localities largely. In order to make tourism as the key economic pillar for Singapore, the government also provided huge funds as this helped in improving the yield by doubling the arrival of visitors and tripling the receipts of tourism.
Thus, to overcome the fall back in the tourism industry for Singapore, it is important to redefine tourism as the serious business. This is because tourism is one of the largest sectors in the world that has seen at least 1 out of 10 people employed in this sector since the late 1990’s thereby, affecting both Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product. Thus, redefining tourism helped in making it as the key economic pillar for Singapore. In addition to, reformulating the product allowed to develop the tourist places of Singapore, as tourism in Singapore was considered as experimental business. Singapore Tourism Board has collaborated with Walt Disney for three years in order provide unique fun and enjoyment for the tourists. As there are several unexplored places in Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board has aimed towards to configure the places as the new tourism space. This provided an opportunity for the tourists to visit places as part of the collective attractiveness of Singapore as a destination.
Singapore Tourism Board has collaborated with different organizations both private and public in order to facilitate growth and promote innovativeness thereby, making tourism as the key economic pillar for the country. The partnership includes Hotel Transformation Map, SHA’s, Hotel Innovation Committee, Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport Group and with countries such as Japan, Australia and China. In addition to, the aim of STB is to make tourism as the key economic pillar by long –term strategic planning, making new ventures and collaborations, promoting innovations and by improving the experience of the tourists and ensuring excellence in the sector.
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