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By Uditha Jayasinghe in Singapore
Never content to rest on its laurels, Singapore is vying for more Sri Lankan tourists with a range of attractions for longer stays and higher revenue.
Recording 79,000 Sri Lankan visitors in 2010, which was growth of 12.8% over the previous year, the Singapore Tourism Board is gearing up to expand in 2011 by increasing the number of visitors as well as extending their stay duration.
“From January to September of 2010 we earned revenue of 96 million Singaporean dollars from Sri Lanka tourists,” noted Singapore Tourism Board Area Director (Southern India, Sri Lanka and Maldives) G.B. Srithar meeting a group of Sri Lanka media last week. He added that the average duration was 5.2 days.
He insisted that while the business from Sri Lanka was small compared to the 2.3 million from Indonesia that is Singapore’s largest market, the country was nonetheless keen to encourage more tourists from the island nation.
Singapore’s strength as a destination lies in its ability to assimilate different attractions from around the world to form its own unique experience, she said, adding that products were ever-evolving to give visitors something new each time ensuring that the tourist never feels bored.
“This is the reason for introducing ‘Your Singapore’ as our title this year. Through our interaction with tourists we have come to realise that the attractions that they seek are more based on what individuals want. Most travellers plan their stay around specific things that they want to learn or do. For example someone can come and learn how to surf at the new Wave House on Sentosa Island. Even though Singapore does not offer surfing beaches we have a facility that others may not provide.”
“Singapore provides holidays that are tailor-made for you – hence the title ‘Your Singapore,’” tourism officials at the meeting opined. Dispensing with the traditional ‘spoon feeding’ mechanism, tourism officials here are comfortable in letting the traveller decide what they want to do where on their own time table.
The variety of options that Singapore provides is seen as the reason for their impressive success, attracting 11.6 million tourists in 2011 with revenue of 18.8 billion Singapore dollars, their goal is to push the 49% year-on-year increase still further by December 2011.
Last year was a record period for the country that managed to heighten tourism revenues despite the industry just recovering from the global financial crisis. Given that Singapore’s main markets are Asian with Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Australia and India heading the race, prognosis for stronger growth is excellent. Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour India stacked up 889,000 visitors to Singapore last year.
“We have seen per capita spending increase with tourists staying longer and spending more,” Srithar explained, adding that since Singapore is a country that already has strong attractions for Sri Lankans, the growth in numbers is more than a possibility.
“It’s very easy for people to visit Singapore. It is easily accessible, there are no visas or other red tape to contend with and we have a variety of attractions, especially for families.”
Indeed, the country is targeting families with a Universal Studios theme park and a host of other attractions on Sentosa Island. Marina Bay Sands, the city bound resort that is ideal for the business traveller, is drawing the younger crowd by the droves, recording 11 million visitors since its opening in June 2010 and was voted Asia’s best MICE Hotel in February 2011.
