Tag Archives: Singapore

Continuing with its agenda to promote cruising from Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board in India will conduct a second edition of its ‘India Cruise Forum’ on March 30, 2017 in Mumbai. Revealing this is G.B. Srithar, Regional Director (SAMEA), International Group, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), who says, “The format will remain more or less the same as last year. We will get the main cruise lines operating out of Singapore together with cruise industry veterans. The day-long forum will also have panel discussions that will talk about cruising in general, trends, insights into the workings of the Indian cruise industry and opportunities with key players across the value chain. India is Singapore’s number one international source market for cruising.” Dream Cruises has announced that its inaugural vessel, Genting Dream, will be home ported year-round in Singapore starting from December 3, 2017. This marks a first for Singapore to host a brand-new and large-scale 151,300-tonne cruise ship year-round.

India ranked third among the top growth markets for international visitor arrivals in Singapore in terms of absolute growth in 2016, registering a growth of 8 per cent. While China (+36%) topped the growth markets, Indonesia (+6%) finished a close second. The growth was due to more visitor arrivals from Tier-I and Tier-II cities in China, India and Indonesia, where STB had intensified its marketing efforts. India also overtook Australia to become Singapore’s 4th largest source market for visitor arrivals. The largest declines in visitor arrivals were posted by Hong Kong (-12%), Malaysia (-2%), Australia (-2%), South Korea (-2%) and Japan (-1%). From January to September 2016, there was good growth in tourism receipts across Singapore’s top ten source markets. For the second consecutive year, China (+41%) ranked top in tourism receipts, followed by Indonesia (+14%) and India (+37%). Both visitor arrivals and tourism receipts exceeded forecasts to hit historical highs in 2016. While visitor arrivals grew by 7.7 per cent to 16.4 million, tourism receipts rose even higher by 13.9 per cent to $24.8 billion. The strong tourism receipt results came on the back of visitors spending more on Food and Beverage, Shopping and Accommodation. On the business tourism front, STB supported more than 410 business events held in 2016, a 15 per cent year-on-year growth. These events garnered around 343,000 visitor arrivals, and generated approximately $611 million in tourism receipts, a 20 per cent and 28 per cent increase year-on-year respectively.

Singapore Airlines has announced the launch of its fourth weekly flight from Ahmedabad to Singapore, starting March 26, 2017. All flights will be operated by the Airbus A330-300 wide-body aircraft. David Lim, General Manager India, Singapore Airlines, commented, “Travel to and from Ahmedabad has steadily increased over the years. Singapore Airlines is pleased to offer an additional frequency to meet the growing market demand. The new service will provide travellers a much sought after weekend departure window, to travel to Singapore and to onward destinations.” Furthermore, travellers from India can redeem a complimentary S$20 Changi Dollar Voucher for use at all participating shops, restaurants and lounges when they transit at Singapore Changi Airport. Indian nationals can also avail of one-way, Visa Free Transit Facility for up to 96 hours in Singapore with a valid onward ticket and a valid visa from selected countries. The transit facility will be provided at the discretion of the immigration authorities.

Singapore will continue to be home to the next three editions of ITB Asia. Messe Berlin, the organisers of the event, have announced the extension of its partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) from 2017 – 2019, as it looks to continue supporting ITB Asia’s impact in the region. This also marks Singapore as the official partner country for 2017. The next three editions of ITB Asia will take place from October 25–27, 2017, October 17–19, 2018, and October 16–18, 2019. Dr. Martin Buck, Senior Vice President, Messe Berlin GmbH, said, “Next year, ITB Asia will be momentous as we celebrate the show’s 10th anniversary. Visitors, delegates and partners can expect a dedicated ‘Corporate Travel Day’ and ‘Hotel Day’, lined up with an exciting full day of conference programmes catered to these fast-growing sectors.” Melissa Ow, Deputy Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, added, “ITB Asia has grown well since its inaugural show in 2008, delivering strong content and memorable experiences for delegates over the past nine years. We look forward to working with Messe Berlin to further entrench it as the leading travel tradeshow in the Asia-Pacific region.” The ninth edition of ITB Asia brought together 846 exhibitors from 110 countries, and 895 buyers. The show also attracted more than 10,876 attendees.

Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA), in collaboration with the Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association (LISHA), has launched a Diwali-themed train that will run on the city’s famous Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. The train is on the city’s North-East line, that includes a stop at the Little India station, from where one could go and take in the festive lights that decorate the main artery road of Little India. The train is decorated with colourful, Rangoli and Indian garlands-inspired designs, lotus and peacocks, symbolizing good luck. The train was launched on October 15, 2016, by Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Khaw Boon Wan and will run through mid-November. GB Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia, Middle East & Africa, Singapore Tourism Board, invited Indian travelers to visit Singapore, saying “Singapore is a year-round festive city. During the Festival of Lights, the whole Little India area comes alive with lighted up streets, Diwali bazaars, eateries serving great food and much music in the air. I can say, in a candid festive spirit, it’s a great time to visit the city where even the train gets dressed up for Diwali.”

In order to boost tourism facilities in Rajasthan, the Government of Rajasthan has signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore. “Singapore has been a close friend and partner of Rajasthan in infrastructure and tourism development. With these MoUs, we aim to deepen this association and develop the state as a world-class, global tourist destination with advanced urban infrastructure,” said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The MoU seeks to aggregate Singapore’s expertise through tripartite collaboration between the government, tourism institutions and industry partners to strengthen Rajasthan’s ‘knowledge capabilities.’ Rajasthan is also seeking to utilise Singapore’s public and private sector proficiency in the development of tourism. The otheragreement focuses on enhancing Rajasthan’s international appeal and connectivity, facilitation of private sector participation in a bid to rejuvenate the state’s heritage areas and critical urban and smart solutions. The MoU will also train 100 Rajasthan tourism officials. The 36-month programme is supported by the Temasek Foundation International with a $484,000 grant, and co-funded by the Rajasthan tourism department. Singapore will also share expertise in areas like inter-modal transport integration, waste management solutions and affordable wireless connection.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has announced the appointment of GB Srithar as Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East & Africa (SAMEA) to be based in Mumbai. Srithar is well acquainted with the Indian markets having worked in India between April 2010 and December 2013 as Area Director, South Asia. Prior to his appointment as Regional Director, he headed the Brand Campaigns team at STB’s HQ’s Marketing Group. One of his key responsibilities will be to oversee the STB’s leisure and BT MICE travel promotions, marketing and developmental efforts in the SAMEA region; and his office will work closely with travel trade and non-trade partners to promote Singapore as the destination of choice among Indian travellers. Talking about his appointment and vision for the Indian market, Srithar said, “I am happy to assume a wider role and be back in Mumbai, a place that I have enjoyed working and living in. India is a key market for Singapore. In 2015, India registered a growth of over seven per cent in Visitor Arrivals at 1,013,777 arrivals, having crossed the 1-million mark for the first time. We have also observed a consistent growth in visitor arrivals in India over the last five years. I seek to extend STB’s hands in partnership to our friends in the travel fraternity across, not only in the key metros but also in the Tier II and III cities, which will contribute increasingly to the rise of the international visitorship for Singapore.”

A total of 573,010 Indians visited Singapore in the first six months of 2016 recording a 10.1 per cent growth compared to the same period last year. India has now become the third largest source of international visitors to Singapore, having overtaken Malaysia. In total, international arrivals to Singapore jumped 12.5 per cent to 8.17 million in the first half of 2016. China is the country’s number one source market with 1.47m Chinese visitors while Indonesia ranks second largest market with 1.41 million visitors (growth of 7.3 per cent) Overall visitation from South Asia to Singapore climbed 9.0 per cent to 701,830 in the first half, including increased traffic from Sri Lanka (+3.3% to 45,801) and Bangladesh (+2.2% to 60,367).

Scoot will commence its Jaipur–Singapore flight from October 2. Scoot has named its first plane landing in Jaipur ‘KamaScootra’ taking inspiration from the ancient Indian text. With this, India becomes the second country after Singapore to inspire an aircraft name after it for Scoot Airlines. The plane will have 335 seats, including 21 premium economy. There will be three flights every week from Jaipur to Singapore till October 29 and afterwards, the frequency will be increased to four. Bharath Mahadevan, Country Head, India, Scoot, says, “At this point, our focus in India is building guest awareness on our propositions – value, choices, innovation, and service with Scootitude–and getting them to experience why Scoot has been ranked Asia-Pacific’s top LCC for two years running. With Jaipur, we take another step towards the target of steadily increasing our operations in India.” The Singapore Airline Group will offer affordable fares from Jaipur to Singapore and other destinations like Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Bangkok. The fares will range from Rs. 4,699 onwards. The sale period starts on September 01 and ends on September 11, 2016.

HeyBnb (HeyBednBreakfast), a global company in the short stay accommodation space, has announced its entry into India with presence in cities like New Delhi, Bengaluru, Goa and Cochin. Headquartered in Singapore, the company works on the concept of shared economy of home sharing concept. It provides an online marketplace connecting hosts who want to make their extra rooms available and travelers who are looking for comfortable yet affordable short-term accommodations. Commenting on this, Kenny Blatt, Co-Founder, Head strategy, HeyBnb said, “We at HeyBnb are bullish about our expansion plans and we want to rope in as many guests & hosts as possible. We are focusing largely on key cities across Asia, Europe, US and Australia. In India alone, we started our operations this year with 17 cities and expect to increase our room count to 60,000 by end-October. The global size of the vacation stay market is expected to reach $170 billion by 2019, out of which five players own less than 10 per cent share, namely Home Away, Airbnb, VRBO, One Fine Stay and Tujian.”