Singapore’s tourism sector emerges from 2020 with greater resilience and reinvention

Significant moves have been made to resume large-scale international MICE events with TravelRevive– powered by ITB Asia & STB in November 2020. This was the first major international travel tradeshow to take place physically in Asia Pacific in the current COVID-19 environment, with local as well as foreign attendees and exhibitors. It saw close to 1,000 local and international on-site attendees, of which 65 were foreign attendees from 14 countries in Asia, Middle East and Europe, as well as over 450 virtual attendees. Three MICE MOUs were also inked during TravelRevive, to set up two Regional Headquarters and launch a new event in Singapore. Such collaborations are a boost to the MICE industry and demonstrate that international event organisers remain confident in Singapore’s position as a Global-Asia node for MICE, and as launchpad for regional expansion. STB and SACEOS co-organised the Singapore MICE Forum (SMF) and MICE Connect as well, bringing together industry leaders to discuss the latest developments in the Singapore MICE and events industry.

The Milken Institute Asia Summit took place from 8 to 10 December 2020. The physical event on 9 December attracted 183 delegates, including 19 foreign attendees from India, UK, US, and the Philippines.

ONE: REIGN OF DYNASTIES was the first international sports production pilot involving international professional fighters to take place in Singapore behind closed doors. Following this, ONE’s Inside the Matrix on 30 October 2020 was the first sporting event with a live audience of 250 spectators, and was among the first to pilot the use of COVID-19 antigen rapid tests.

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2020, held from 27 November to 6 December, adopted a hybrid race format that included a virtual race experience with augmented reality routes that showcased the best of Singapore’s iconic sights. The Grand Finale drew more than 12,000 participants, with virtual participants from close to 70 countries.

STB introduced the first virtual Singapore Food Festival (SFF), bringing on board more than 25 F&B partners with a line-up of live masterclasses featuring local and award-winning chefs representing Singapore’s finest F&B establishments, virtual food tours, SFF food merchandise and limited-edition food bundles. It saw over 500,000 unique viewers around the world, and won two awards at the Marketing Events Awards 2020 for Best Content Creation for a Virtual Event (Gold) and Best Virtual Event (Bronze).

Towards the year-end, the Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA) staged its much-loved annual Christmas on A Great Street event on Orchard Road as a hybrid Christmas Light-Up. For the first time, visitors from around the world could enjoy the dazzling display of lights and decorations both physically and virtually through a 360 drive-through experience of the Christmas lights. The virtual experience drew more than 210,000 viewers.

Christmas Wonderland 2020 at Gardens by the Bay also returned in a hybrid format. The physical event, titled the Walk of Lights, featured eight stunning light installations, complemented by a virtual experience with interactive activities, performances, and festive shopping. More than 100,000 people attended the physical event and its virtual Christmas world received more than 1.5 million views.

In the US, Conde Nast Travel (CNT) recognised Singapore as the first global destination for their New Standard for travel. STB Americas reached over 33 million US and Canadian viewers through custom-curated content across CNT’s print, digital and social channels, extending Singapore’s credibility as a safe and exciting travel destination. Together with Phil Rosenthal, host of Netflix’s top-rated food and travel programme Somebody Feed Phil, STB Americas also organised virtual meet-and-greet sessions for 400 top-tier US media, influencers, travel trade, and devoted foodie and explorer fans. During the sessions, Phil reminisced with Singaporean personalities such as Tan Kheng Hua, Chef Bjorn Shen and KF Seetoh on the Singapore episode, as he enthusiastically promoted the city’s vibrant food culture and modern architectural feats.

STB’s European offices rolled out various marketing campaigns across the region. A collaboration with UK influencer collective Captivate (a collective of 10 lifestyle bloggers and influencers) to promote the Passion Tribes, saw the campaign reach 2.4 million viewers. In France, together with six influencers, a TikTok challenge was launched to engage the early careers segment, challenging creators to recreate pouring teh tarik in creative ways. A partnership with German creative company ArtNight to organise an online workshop with Singaporean artist Paul Wang also promoted the arts and culture scene in Singapore to German audiences.

STB signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with Trip.com Group and iQIYI International in November 2020 to jointly market Singapore as a destination of choice for travellers over the next three years. To maintain Singapore’s destination mindshare in China, STB partnered with Xiaomi on a co-branding campaign with a mix of online and offline initiatives - including Singapore-branded delivery boxes with handmade toys of Singapore icons, and a collection of Singapore food recipes created for Xiaomi’s smart home app. In partnership with Tencent, STB rolled out several campaigns that leveraged new technologies and gamification to engage younger audiences. For example, Singapore elements were introduced into the Limxiu app, which allows users to create 3D avatars and design their virtual homes. In another campaign on their face-swapping app Pitu, users could transform into Peranakan characters. In August 2020, STB also launched A Singapore Feast in Taiwan with 11 F&B brands to profile Singapore food and culture, with Singapore-themed menus, products and promotions rolled out across Taiwan.

In India, STB was among the first National Tourism Organisations to engage consumers with a virtual event – Zomaland@Home. Partnering with Zomato, the leading Indian restaurant aggregator and food delivery service, STB was the destination partner for the weekend virtual festival, with a Singapore Experience Zone that featured live sessions with Singaporean artistes and engaging games. STB India also collaborated with BookMyShow, India’s leading entertainment ticketing platform, to give users a glimpse of the iconic culture and beauty of Singapore. This was through a four-part web series celebrating creativity across various art forms, including film-making, music, food and comedy, featuring candid conversations between renowned artists across India and Singapore. The web series garnered 1.4 million views in its first month. Reaching out to families, STB was the country partner for two editions of Windmill Festival 2020, a virtual event for children, where there was an Experience Zone with Singapore tourism stakeholders.

Our STB office in Japan partnered with JTB Corporation to launch a series of 60-minute virtual tours around Singapore called Get a Feeling of Overseas Travel at Home. The chargeable tours featured Singapore-based Japanese YouTuber, Ghib Ojisan, who entertained guests as they explored Singapore with a JTB tourist guide. Guests also received Singapore-themed souvenir packs delivered to their homes as part of the multi-sensory experience.

As part of STB’s strategy to appeal to foodies, STB Oceania launched a brand campaign to introduce zi char to Australians in March 2020. The key component was a chef collaboration between Sydney’s Brent Savage from Cirrus Dining, and Singapore’s Wayne Liew from Keng Eng Kee. The PR activation at Cirrus Dining commenced with a Media-Trade evening on 2 March, followed by three consumer nights. Due to overwhelming demand, a five-week extension was planned from 6 March to 12 April 2020, though this ended earlier than planned due to COVID containment measures in Sydney at the time. The activation was supported by media buys with content partner Urban List, on digital, social and Out-of-Home (OOH) platforms.

Within Southeast Asia, STB launched a TravelThrowBack initiative to encourage people to share their photos of their travels to Singapore as well as the rest of Southeast Asia. The initiative, which ran from July to mid-October 2020, reached more than 21 million social media users to inspire the region to plan trips to Singapore when it is safe to travel again.

Grand Hyatt Singapore has committed to redesigning jobs and upgrading the skills of 10 of its employees as the hotel embarks on technological transformation. This includes the implementation of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) to automate the placement of banquet tables; this provided the opportunity for five staff to be upskilled to become bartenders. PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road on the other hand, has put in place an in-house training programme to provide lateral training and provide redeployment opportunities for 66 associates in various departments, including Banquet, F&B, Engineering, Front Office, Housekeeping, Kitchen, Stewarding and Security. The hotel also has plans to further streamline the roles of Bellman, Concierge and Front Office to achieve higher manpower productivity by focusing on guest engagement and adoption of technology. Employees in these positions will be trained and certified to perform all three roles by end 2021. Raffles Hotel also tapped the programme to equip their engineering staff with new skills to take on new roles in other departments, including Shift Operations, Mechanical and Electrical (Kitchen and Laundry) and Audio Visual, while continuing to contribute well to the organisation.

Tourism businesses could tap this fund to redesign their business processes and improve productivity. For example, iFly Singapore will use the funds to implement a facial recognition and QR code scanning system to automate guest registrations, check-ins and the purchase of photos and videos. Informa Tech has also used the fund to pivot ConnecTechAsia (CTA), one of Singapore’s top 5 largest trade shows, to an online event. The BIF-supported virtual exhibition with AI business matching solutions enabled close to 7,000 attendees to network virtually and engage in live keynotes and Q&A. More than 300 exhibitors also showcased their products on a virtual exhibition floor.

Businesses also used the fund to adopt innovative solutions to enhance cleanliness and hygiene standards. For example, Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore is implementing a Smart AI & IOT Security Access Control to allow the hotel team to remotely control balcony doors within guestrooms to reduce transmission risk. The hotel also adopted an Antimicrobial Anti-Viral Coating solution that reduces the time needed to clean and disinfect high touch and common areas by coating these touchpoints with an enhanced self-cleaning photocatalytic surface treatment, which eliminates common bacteria and viruses. Also, GP Hotel Management is implementing a contactless temperature screening system with facial recognition capabilities across their 23 hotels under the Fragrance Hotel, ibis budget and Parc Sovereign brands in Singapore.

The scheme supported tourism businesses to upgrade and upskill their workers. Compared to 2019, the number of trainees funded under TIP-iT more than doubled in 2020. This is testament to our tourism businesses’ commitment to upskill employees to future-proof their workforce. For example, Park Hotel Group tapped the scheme to upskill 458 staff and improve service standards across its properties, F&B outlets and corporate office. STB granted 132 SkillsFuture Study Awards to employees in the tourism sector in 2020, which was a two-fold increase compared to 63 awards given in 2019. This demonstrated that employees in the tourism sector are committed to developing and deepening emerging and specialist skills as part of our resilient workforce.

The Tourism Transformation Index (TXI) is a self-diagnostic tool for companies to assess their strength and weaknesses pertaining to digital transformation and benchmark themselves amongst industry peers. To date, 105 tourism companies have benefited from TXI, which included receiving tailored recommendations to programmes that can advance the state of their company’s digital transformation.

The Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan) was launched to help industry stakeholders tap data to guide their business decisions. Businesses in the tourism industry can use Stan to conduct data visualisations, analysis, exchange and collaborate on data analytics projects with other industry stakeholders. Armed with deeper consumer insights, they will be able to make data-driven decisions to tailor their marketing, products and services to serve customers’ needs

The Data Analytics SHift Programme (DASH) was launched to upskill the industry in data analytics. DASH helps local tourism companies build their capability in data, so as to improve business performance in a structured and sustainable manner. Representatives from participating companies will be trained in digital transformation and data analytics skills, and then supported in planning and implementing data projects within their companies. 10 companies have participated in the DASH programme to date.

The STB Marketing College partnered key digital players such as Facebook, Google and LinkedIn to develop web-based training for the tourism industry. STB also developed an online Masterclass series with industry experts to share business insights and best practices to engage customers. From April to December 2020, the webinars drew more than 5,800 participants across 20 sessions.

Through the Singapore Tourism Accelerator programme, STB has supported companies to develop quality solutions and pilot them with our tourism industry players. The first two cohorts have produced 21 pilots, and 10 more are currently in progress for the third cohort.