THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Since the start of the year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has embarked on a series of collaborative and creative initiatives to attract and welcome diverse travellers from key metropolitan and secondary Indian cities to Singapore. In its latest initiative, it has organised an eight-city roadshow, together with close to 45 Singapore tourism stakeholders, in Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Madurai, Kolkata, Rajkot, Guwahati, Nagpur and Jalandhar.
Themed “Growing Connections, Achieving Together”, the trade engagement roadshows will serve to deepen the STB’s and tourism stakeholders’ existing partnerships and foster new ones with the local travel trade fraternity. The STB will present latest developments in the Singapore tourism scene and update the trade on exciting, new offerings, like Passion Tours, Jewel Changi Airport, Rainforest Lumina, and upcoming events like Singapore Food Festival and Great Singapore Sale in July, Grand Prix Season Singapore in September and Deepavali Celebrations in November.
The roadshows will include key stakeholders from Singapore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators. The delegation will be led by the Singapore Tourism Board’s G.B Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East &South Asia and Adrian Kong, Area Director, India &South Asia – Mumbai.
Singapore received 1.44 million visitors last year from India, crossing the one million visitor mark for the fourth time in a row. India also continued as the third largest visitor source market for Singapore and retained its position as the top source market for cruise travel.
While speaking about STB’s efforts to showcase Singapore as a destination of choice among Indian travellers, GB Srithar said, “India is a very important source market for Singapore and the STB has been steadfastly engaging travellers through travel trade and media partnerships and various marketing initiatives. Last year, India retained its position as the third largest source market for Singapore in terms of Visitor Arrivals. We are looking forward to working closely with both Indian and Singaporean travel trade partners to continue the momentum and entice more Indian travellers to come and experience Singapore’s diverse offerings catering to the different passion points of travellers.”
2018 was an eventful year for STB in the Indian market. It promoted the destination brand “Passion Made Possible” vigorously and presented Singapore’s diverse offerings to audiences across India. It embarked on several creative consumer engagement initiatives like the first-ever English music video collaboration by an international tourism agency in India with Vh1, marketing partnerships with high consumer-touch brands Paytm and Ola and a music promotional association with Maestro Ilaiyaraaja targeting the South Indian market. The board also undertook intensive travel trade outreach efforts across 21 cities to connect with travel intermediaries promoting Singapore holidays.
In 2019, STB continues to look beyond travel trade and tactical promotions in India and foray into collaborations with brands and influencers. It partnered successfully, for a second time, with St+art India Foundation to present the Singapore Weekender, an arts festival in New Delhi and concluded a seven webisode series with Tripoto, a social travel platform.
During the roadshows, Scoot, Silk Air and Singapore Airlines will be announcing special fares for the Indian travellers to travel to Singapore. The fares will be for a promotional period from 8 to 31 July 2019, which can be booked directly on either the airline websites or mobile app.
About Singapore Tourism Board: The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is the lead development agency for tourism, one of Singapore’s key economic sectors. Together with industry partners and the community, we shape a dynamic Singapore tourism landscape. We bring the Passion Made Possible brand to life by differentiating Singapore as a vibrant destination that inspires people to share and deepen their passions. For more information, visit www.stb.gov.sg or www.visitsingapore.com or follow us on Twitter @STB_sg (https://twitter.com/stb_sg).
