From place to people

Shifting its focus from products to people, Singapore Tourism Board’s campaign ‘Passion Made Possible’ is now set to revolve around the interests of Indian travellers.

HAZEL JAIN

For a destination as evolved as Singapore, this seems like the next logical step. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) recently underwent a change of brand identity with ‘Passion Made Possible’ as its new tagline. Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, STB, says, “This was done because of our shift in focus to go beyond tourism from products to people, especially considering how familiar the Indian traveller is with Singapore. We wanted to talk about the spirit of people which allows us to tell a richer, fuller story. The Indian traveller is more evolved now and there is a shift from merely doing things to focusing on their interests and passions.”

India is our number one source market for cruise tourism. In 2016, we recorded a growth of 29 per cent in Indians visiting Singapore just for cruising

Singapore received 16.4 million international visitors in 2016. Of this, about 1.1 million were from India. This makes India one of the top five source markets for Singapore. These figures show positive growth in 2017. In the first eight months, from January until August, the numbers were up by 14 per cent for the Indian market, which indicates that India has been outperforming the rest of Singapore’s source markets.

Yeo elaborates, “India is our number one source market for cruise tourism. In 2016, we recorded a growth of 29 per cent in Indians visiting Singapore just for cruising. But targeting major events remains our strategy since it can be a huge tourism driver. We want to host more sporting and musical events. We are also seeing immense growth in the incentive segment from India. Of course, wedding is a lucrative market. But we are stepping in for pre and post wedding plans, and not the actual wedding event.”

STB recently conducted a city-wide cultural and gastronomy festival bringing the flavour of Singapore to Mumbai. It plans to continue with activities that involve the direct consumer in accordance with the new branding. This implies an increase in budgets for the India market, as confirmed by GB Srithar, Regional Director – SAMEA, STB.