The island of singapore tourism essay

Introduction

Located in South-East Asia, Singapore includes the island of Singapore and 58 or so smaller islands. The city blends Malay, Chinese, Arab, Indian and English cultures and religions. This country is one of the most attractive destinations in the area – known as the modenrnest city over a century here (Singaporeexpats 2013). Singapore is famous for being the cleanest city in the world (Thomas 2008). Its unique ethnic tapestry affords visitors a wide array of sightseeing and culinary opportunities from which to choose. A full calendar of traditional festivals and holidays celebrated throughout the year adds to its cultural appeal. In addition, Singapore offers luxury hotels, delectable cuisine and great shopping. Because of its efficient and determined government, Singapore has become a flourishing country that excels in trade and tourism and is a model to developing nations (Singaporeexpats 2013). The number of tourists coming to Singapore showed a remarkable increase in the year of 2010 and 2011 with 20. 2% and 13. 1% respectively (Singapore Tourism Board 2012). There are many reasons explaining why Singapore is so attractive. Tourism promoters like Singapore Tourism Board is now working effectively. Service suppliers also continue to develop to satisfy tourists coming. Shopping malls, high standard hotels, relaxing places, historic destinations have appeared and improved effectively. Howeve, external environment plays a part in controlling tourism in Singapore. It sometimes can be unstable and make changes to all the factors. Thus, we must look at Singapore’s strength and weakness very carefully to analyze well. This study aims to put an overall picture of Singapore tourism with some factors: overview, tourism promoters, tourism service suppliers and external environment.

Discussion of findings

Overview of Singapore tourism

Overall, it can be said that Singapore has a quite successful tourism industry. It has brought to Singapore a very great chance to enhance the image to international friends. The number of tourists coming has continued to increase and does not seem to stop. Visitor arrival in 2012 was forcasted to be about 13. 5 to 14. 5 million going along with remarkable tourism receipts of 23-24 billion Singapore dollar (Singapore Business Review). As can be seen from Figure 1, over the period of 2007-2011, Singapore witnessed the increase of tourists coming. Although the first 3 years (2007-2009) represented a slight decrease, the number of visitors rised sharply with 20. 2% from 2009 to 2010 and 13. 1% from 2010 to 2011. That was really an optomistic signal, which then demonstrated its growth when 2012 still show the same considerable amount of tourists. Figure 1: Number of arrivals in the recent yearsRegarding the theme of Singapore tourism’s top markets, Asian countries are the most potential markets. They made up 75% and 76% in 2010 and 2011 respectively of overall arrivals according to Figure 2. Namely, top 10 generating markets in that 2011 inluded Indonesia, PR China, Malaysia, Australia, India, Philipin, Japan, Thailand, Hongkong SAR and UK in order (Figure 3). 8 out of 10 in the list was Asian countries, with China grew the fastest at +34. 7% while UK had the biggest decrease of -4. 1% compare to their respective 2010 performances. Figure 2: Top market by regionFigure 3: Top 10 generating market in 2010 and 2011With such a remarkable amount of visitors, Singapore tourism earned a considerable revenue from 2007 to 2011 (Figure 4). It gained $41, 2 billion SGD in this period. In 2011, tourism receipts reached S$22. 3 billion, a 17. 7% growth compared to S$18. 9 billion in 2010. The great increase in tourism receipts in 2010 and 2011 was due to higher visitor arrivals and higher tourism receipt per capita expenditure of visitors. Figure 4: Tourism receipt from 2007-2011Singapore is famous for some main types of tourism. Looking at Figure 5 about major expditure, sightseeing and entertainment was the highest expenditure item in both 2010 and 2011, followed by shopping. All major expenditure items experienced positive growth in 2011. With the introduction of the two Integrated Resorts, TR PCE of sightseeing & entertainment registered asignificant increase in 2010 over 2009, with growth continuing in 2011. The 2 most visited attractions in singapore are Sentosa and Orchard road. Especially, people who came to Singapore to go shopping brought $4, 489 million SGD in 2011 – increase $518 million SGD compare to 2010. Figure 5: Breakdown of Tourism Receipt by Major Expenditure items

Tourism promoters

In Singapore, the National Tourism Organization (NTO) is the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The organization is the leading economic development agency of Singapore tourism, one of the key economic sectors in Singapore. According to the statistics shown on the STB website, except the slightly drop in 2008 and 2009, the number of arrivals in Singapore increase over the past 5 year with nearly 3 million, from 10. 3 million in 2007 to 13. 2 million in 2011. In 2011, Singapore welcomes more than 900000 international visitors each month to get the total of 13. 2 millions visitors to surpass 2010 with only 11. 6 million (Singapore Tourism Board 2013). Indonesia, P. R China, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and UK are 10 countries that have the most visitors to Singapore in order from highest to lowest in 2011. Indonesia has the highest amount of visitors to Singapore with 2, 592, 222 people while UK is the lowest of the top 10 with only 442, 611. The ranking almost the same as 2010 except Thailand was 9th place, UK at 10th place and Hong Kong not even in top 10. STB also divides visitors into regions with nearly 70% of visitors are from Asia (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 16). Various local tourism agencies operated in Singapore which licensed by the Singapore Tourism Board. For example, there are WTS Travel & Tours, Fascinating Holidays and Dynasty Travel. WTS Travel & Travel was incorporated since 1989. The company runs as a Travel Agent, School Tour and Motor Coach Operator and they are also an active member of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) (WTS Travel & Tours 2013). Singapore Tourism Board has an important role in the development of Singapore tourism. STB updated the trend of tourist taste by covering international markets around Asia, Oceania, Europe and America. STB focuses on developing tourism products such as sightseeing, attractions, business together with emerging products such as healthcare and educational services. In addition, STB has branches all across the world with 22 regional offices and 2 market representatives to promote Singapore tourism to foreign travelers and travel agents. The organization also helps the local tourism industry maintaining the services at world-class level, STB controls incentives and grants through the Tourism Development Assistance Scheme (TDAS) to manage the investment. Singapore Tourism Board aims to make Singapore become the best in tourism through it Vision and Mission. The Vision is to be a leading economic development agency in tourism, always setting new benchmarks and pioneering best practices. The Mission is developing and championing tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore. As the Vision and Mission stated, the STB’s goal is to create a high standard tourism for Singapore, exciting and innovative experiences for visitors which make visitors want to be back to Singapore for more. (Singapore Tourism Board 2012, p. 20). STB developed several international programs and events to get attention from everyone around the world. For example, Global Chef Exchange, Hometown Collaboration and especially Formula 1 race (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 21). STB developed the F1 project to host an F1 race every year. The project finished in 2007 and confirmed to host the F1 race a year later. The race is currently held once a year with music show and numerous events along. This is a successful campaign as getting attention from people around during the time of the world, attract new visitors to join the event to experience Singapore tourism infrastructure and world class services (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 22).

Tourism services supplier

2. 3. 1 Accomodations

Figure: Hotel Statistics in Singapore in the recent yearsSince Singapore tourism market is quite large, the accomodation involve lot of business, market segmentation, and dynamic inside. The revenue from gazetted hotel room in Q1 2012 estimated S$0. 6 billion, grew 6 year-on-year growth. This made robust performances of Average Room Rate (ARR) and Average Occupancy Rate (AOR) that eventually push the RevPAR growth for 14% (Singapore Tourism Board 2012, p. 2). Standard Average Room Rate (ARR) Singapore in 2012 was $ 261. 2 , that was growing 5. 7% year-on-year (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 1). Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) Singapore in 2012 grew 7. 2% to $225. 15 (CBRE Global Research and Consulting 2012, p. 1). Standard Average Occupancy Rate(AOR) in 2012 was 86% (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 1). The Number of hotels in 2007 until 2011 was growing steadily, followed by number of hotels. Figure: The increase of hotel and hotel rooms in the recent yearsGazetted hotels are classified by the room stock they have, there are Small (less than 201 rooms), medium (201-400 rooms), large (401-600 rooms), and very large (more than 600 rooms). Although the number of hotel are dominated by hotel with small stock of the room, but the contribution of the total room are dominated by large and very large type. Figure: Gazetted hotel classification in 2010 and 2011Other than Hotel, Singapore has other types of accomodation, here are some figures about the role of each party: Figure: Proportion of lodging industry in Singapore 2007-2011In the next few years, over 11, 000 rooms will enter the market which represent 25% growth from the stock of gazetted room at end of 2012, with the trend of new hotel development in Singapore will be dominated by mid-tier (46%) and economy hotels (28%) (Mcintosh 2012, p. 32). Besides, Singapore keeps investing on infrastructure and attraction. Some of the new amusement area in Singapore are Marina Bay Sands together with Resort World Sentosa Called Integrated Resort (IR), Garden By The Bay, Marine Life Park, and River Safari (CBRE Global Research and Consulting 2012, p. 1). In fact, there are 26 world class service hotels in Singapore, such as Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, Intercontinental Hotel Singapore, Mandarin Orchard Singapore Hotel and so on (Singapore Business Review 2011). Based on Singapore Tourism Board (STB) both the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) Integrated Resorts (IRs) improve to their stable of attractions. In September 2011, MBS unveiled the two stunning crystal pavilions that house the world’s first Louis Vuitton Island Maison and world-renowned clubs Avalon and Pangaea (Singapore Tourism Board 2013, p. 32). The sizeable supply and slower visitor growth could lead to lower occupancy rates and slower ADR growth, resulting in very limited RevPAR growth. CBRE expects an occupancy rate of 80% – 82% and ADR growth of 3% – 5% in 2013 (CBRE Global Research and Consulting 2012, p. 2).

2. 3. 2 Food and Beverages (F&B)

Even though Singapore is categorised as little Island, this country have a wide range of F&B variation which can easily be found in every single corner of it. Some of them are classified by their ethnic origin such as Chinese cuisines, culinary of India and Malaysian/Peranakan cuisines, Vietnamese, Western and so on. Most of them are dominated by Chinese cuisines that been brought to Singapore by Chinese Immigrant. For example you can find Dim Sum variations in Singapore that originated from Canton and tasty but super-extra spicy food originated from Schezuan province of China. Furthermore, Indian and Malay also have a huge participation on Singapore food and beverages life. They brought food lovers the spiciness of curry, the uniqueness of murtabak and the tasty nasi lemak all in one country. In 2011, there were about 6, 500 establishments in the F&B services industry (Department of Statistic Singapore 2011). The growth of F&B industry In Singapore couldn’t be hold any longer, the number of stall and establishment keep growing and exploding each year. Regarding the theme of Singapore origional cuisine, tourists may try Bakut Teh, Fish Head Curry or The Tarik (Yoursingapore 2013). A bowl of Bakut teh serving consist of several meaty pork ribs included in soup(one variation served dark coloured-herbal soup and for others prefer clear soup with pepper) , you tiao (deep-fried dough fritters) and some steamed vegetables inside. A term ” teh tarik” which means pulled tea now has been popular throughout Singapore and somehow marked as Singapore Unofficial Signature drink. Besides, to fulfill the cuisine culture, Singapore also has some kinds of festival like Singapore Food Festival which is organized from June to July or World Gourmet Summit. ‘ A charity dinner organised by the World Gourmet Summit on Thursday has raised over S$350, 000 for Singapore’s Community Chest’ (Hoo 2010).

2. 4 Destination, attractions and transportation

According to the survey of Tourism Board about 2011 visited attraction with two separare categories for both paid and unpaid-access (Figure 6), we can recognize top 5 for the former are Sentosa, Intergrated Resorts (MBS/RWS), Singapore Flyer, Night Safari and Zoological Garden accordingly. Meanwhile, top 5 for the latter was listed are Orchard Road, China Town, Little India, Singapore River (Boat Quay/Clarke Quay) and Merlion Park. However, if talking about unque places, it may come to a summarize of these five below:

2. 4. 1 Sentosa Island/ Universal Studios Singapore

Universal Studios Singapore (USS) is a theme park, it is located and occupies 20 hectares of Sentosa Island. USS is the second Universal Studios theme park that opened in Asia after Japan. Like Most Universal Studios, the theme park in Singapore has themes such as Madagascar, Hollywood, Sci-Fi, New York, Ancient Egypt, Lost World and Far Far Away (Resort World Sentosa 2013). It attracts a large number of tourists all around the world but especially more in the South East Asian region, because it is generally cheaper for people in South East Asia to travel to Singapore than to Japan or United States. This Park has a total of 24 attractions, 18 of which are especially adapted for the park. But what is most interesting is that they features the world’s tallest pair of dueling roller coasters which is called Battlestar Galactica, named after the popular TV show. Moreover, the Transformers ride was first opened in Universal Studios Singapore that attracts massive crowds. USS also holds events such as ” Halloween Horror Nights” to keep crowds coming all year long.

2. 4. 2 Orchard Road

Orchard road is undoubtedly the one of the largest tourist attraction especially when it comes to shopping. Stretching 2. 2km, it is the part of the central region and also singapore’s Central Business District. The road is filled with various shopping centers such as: ION Orchard, Ngee Ann City, Wisma Atria, Mandarin Gallery, Lucky Plaza, Far East Plaza, Plaza Singapura and many more. There are also luxury brands available throughout the shopping centers around Orchard road that makes it popular (Yoursingapore 2013). The spacious road for pedestrian also gives people chances to hang out there. Some even perform, advertise or sell goods there. One of the most popular side shops along the road for both tourist and people who live in Singapore are the $1 ice cream carts which provides a slice of thick ice cream with the selection of bread or wafers to eat it with for just a dollar. These kind of small attractions makes the shopping district even more popular. Because of it’s popularity, the area is usually just called Orchard, even if it’s not orchard road anymore, people would just call it Orchard.

2. 4. 3 Singapore Flyer

Being one of Asia’s biggest tourist attractions, the world’s largest Giant Observation Wheel is standing tall at a height of 165m. The Flyer was developed and designed by Dr. Kisho Kurokawa and DP architects, Singapore. It was launched in 2008 and attracted a massive number of people. The Flyer is capable of holding up to 784 passanger, while each capsule has a capacity of 28-person. One revolution in this flyer will approximately takes 30 minutes. Inside, you can enjoy a 360-degree view that shows Singapore’s dynamic cityscape. From F1 track, Changi Airport, Sentosa Island, the city and even a hint of parts of neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia; totally obstruction free (Singaporeflyer 2013).

2. 4. 4 Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands is a world class Casino and hotel that is capped with a glamorous Sands Skypark. The dramatic design of the bulding has changed the city skyline ( Pregarz, Thomas, Flower, Marn and Lim 2011, p. 105). It features 2, 561-rooms, The Shoppes at the mall, museum, Celebrity Chef restaurants, theatres, floating crystal pavilion, ice skating rink, world class casino and a large Convention-Exhibition Centre. It is then perfected by its 340m long SkyPark, which can hold up to 3, 900 people and also features a 150m-infinity swimming pool. There are also restaurants and bars such as KU DÈ TA, Sky on 57, The Chocolate bar that is popular with crowds (Marinabaysands 2013). Facing the beautiful Marina Bay, it is one of the best hotel locations in Singapore. It has a great view of the CBD and all around it. Being next to the ArtScience Museum, the new Gardens by the Bay and near the CBD and the Raffles area makes Marina Bay Sands more popular.

2. 4. 5 Clarke Quay/ Riverside Quay

This historical riverside quay has transformed exquisitely into restaurants, bars, pubs and nightclubs. Because of its concentration of entertainment, now this place can definitely be called the nightlife of Singapore. All various kinds of Food and Drinks are available in this place; Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, German, Korean, you name it! The beautiful lights along the quay is just as beautiful, even if you only watch them from the bridge along with other crowds who hangs around the bridge. If you feel like an adrenaline rush ride, there’s G-Max Reverse Bungee ride gives you your adrenaline kicks (Clarkequay 2013). For people who don’t like the bustling nightlife, there is a mall called the central facing the quay. This place is always crowded despite what night it is, it’s definitely one of the top attraction in Singapore.

2. 4. 6 Newest attraction in Singapore: Gardens by the Bay

Gardens by the Bay is one of Singapore’s newest attractions. Locating in the Marina Bay area, just next to the Sands, it is just as popular as MBS. The Garden is a park stretching spanning 250 acres wide that consist of 3 waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden, Bay East Garden and Bay Central Garden (Garden By The Bay 2013). The Bay South Garden consist of Conservatories, Flower Dome, Supertrees that dominates the park and many more. The Bay East Garden is still under development, but it will be water themed that also gives an unobstructed view of the skyline. While the Bay Central Garden is an area which connects the South and the East section. It has various restaurants where tired visitors rest and refresh themselves.

2. 4. 7 Transportations in Singapore

Travelling from one place to another in Singapore is easy due to highly penetrative public transport system. The three main modes of public transport in Singapore are the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), buses and taxis. From buses and taxis to the MRT, the wide array of public transportation in Singapore has much to offer (Lee 2013). Each mode of transport has its pros and cons of price, speed or comfortability. Buses are, by far, the most common form of public transportation in Singapore, followed by the MRT and taxis respectively. Public buses serve almost every part of Singapore, making it the most popular form of public transportation, while the MRT provides speed and efficiency, especially during peak hours (YourSingapore 2013).

2. 5 External Environment Impacts

2. 5. 1 Major impacts

Nowadays, Singapores is mature enough when mixing its high technology and modern infrasstructure with the unique local attractions by packaging the multicultural concept (Hermana and Presilla 2008). Tourism has brought Singapore a huge profit. As per the report the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to Singapore’s GDP is projected to be 8. 2% of GDP (SGD25. 6bn) in 2011; forecasted to rise to 9. 2% of GDP (SGD45. 1bn) by 2021. The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to employment is projected to be 6. 3% of total employment (197000 jobs) in 2011; forecasted to become 8. 1% of total employment (268000 jobs) by the year 2021 (Southtravel 2011). That somehow shows the positive impacts in society, as income and living standards of locals rise so much thanks to tourism’s development. Following by rapic economic impacts, tourism also creates impacts on infrastructure here. With the demand to make Singapore become the Tourism Capital of the Region, as well as the Tourism Business Center, they invested much money on buildings, malls, facilities and technology (Dutta 2008). Moreover, the latest attractions launched in 2011/2012 stand out not only for their ability to offer quality experiences that have injected diversity and new-found excitement to the industry, but also for their uniqueness in Asia. Many destinations like RSS, MBS or USS have taken the opportunity to enhance their products in the past year. For example, Jurong Bird Park introduced its new Birdz of Play themed play area, complete with wet and dry play zones and an arcade room to cater to children of all ages (Singapore Tourism Board 2012, p. 26-28). On the other hand, educational tourism like Summer Camp is also promoted, as Singapore attachs special importance to rise standards of schools or universities here to attract more tourists. Besides, there are many new problems existing due to increase of tourism like capacity or erosion of native language as well as local culture. Although there are more than 43, 000 rooms with all standards until 2011 as metioned from above, high-peak season in Singapore. For example, during F1 there was a tough questions of how to find enough rooms and good services. To minimise the inconvenience for both residence and business, installing of circuit infrastructure should be taken into consider (Ramchandani 2012). Furthermore, as Singapore is intergrated by different culture and language, there now comes the trend of forgeting the common language – English. For instance, Mandarin is now considered more popular for residents. 2. 5. 2 A new socio-cultural problem from gamblingSingapore is now dealing with complex problems. The appearance of the two intergrated casino-based resorts (RWS and MBS) may create financial vulnerable. Once someone goes to casino, they may lose everything with casino. That is why the government has to set the entrance fee of casino with Singaporean/PR is one hundred dollar. And they have to bar low-income citizens from casino. In 2012, about 28, 000 people are already banned from the casinos by authorities because they roll in various low-income categories. Another 70, 000 people in Singapore have voluntarily blacklisted themselves to help them prevent from their gambling urges. Around 1, 000 gamblers have been put on the barred list by their families (SAPA-DPA 2012).