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The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a government body which comes under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore. It plays a pivotal role in the development of Singapore’s tourism sector, which is the country’s key economic sector. Besides the development, it also undertakes marketing and promotion of Singapore as a preferred tourist destination.
The role of STB can be exemplified by the fact that the tourism sector currently contributes around 4 percent towards Singapore’s gross domestic product. It also supports around 160,000 jobs. Tourism also plays an important role in promoting Singapore as a place of vibrant culture and magnet of business talent. Overall, it helped in promoting quality and variety of tourism and leisure options for locals, as well as tourists.
The board strives to ensure that tourism remains a key economic pillar of the Singapore’s economy. It achieves this objective by; long-term strategic planning; developing partnership; promoting innovation, and creating an atmosphere of excellence. It also seeks continued support from the industry in it endeavour to achieve sustainable success in the sector. Next to take the tourism sector to the next level, the board, in its next phase, is working on Quality Tourism.
Background
The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) was established in 1964. It was mandated to promote Singapore as a favoured tourist destination (Singapore Tourism Board). The creation of the board highlighted the recognition of government’s effort to promote Singapore as a favoured destination; also the position of tourism as a major contributor to Singapore’s economy.
In its initial stages, it had a staff strength of just 25. And, in that year the country welcomed a total of 91,000 visitors. During the early stages of development, the STPB concentrated on spreading awareness about Singapore as a preferred destination. Also, to build tourism related infrastructure like the Sentosa Island and the Singapore Zoological Gardens. It was only in the 1970s, that the Board started presenting the city as a place for events and conventions. This approach led to, in the 1980s, the implementation of the $1 billion Tourism Product
Development Plan. The plan envisaged preservation of the Singapore’s historical and cultural districts, such as Chinatown, Little India, and Arab Street. This also involved the rejuvenation of the country’s Singapore River. And, the plan also involved the creation of new iconic event and tourist locations.
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Organizational Structure
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is led by Chairman, Mr. Chew Choon Seng and the Board of Directors (Singapore Tourism Board). He is supported by the Chief Executive, Mr Lionel Yeo and also the head of Internal Audit, Mr. Alfred Chiam.
Further, the Chief Executive is supported by; Ms. Lynette Pang, Asst. Chief Executive responsible for marketing group; Ms. Neeta Lachmandas, Asst. Chief Executive responsible for Business Development Group; Mr. Yap Chin Stang, Asst. Chief Executive & QSM responsible for Policy & Planning Group; Chief Executive’s Office; Ms. Melissa Ow, Asst. Chief Executive responsible for Experience Development Group; and Mr. Leong Yue Kheong, Asst. Chief Executive is responsible for International Group. Lastly, the CEO’s office is supported by Mr. Nael Islam, Executive Director of Human Resources and Ms. Chiang Hai Yin, the Chief Financial Officer and CIO. Detailed organizational chart is in Appendix A.
Resources & Contribution to Success
Among the major initiatives, STB governs the regulatory atmosphere for hotels, travel guides, and travel agents though licensing and monitoring compliance through acts and legislation (Singapore Tourism Board). It also does policy and regulatory reviews on a regular basis.
Regarding hotels, it chief mandate is to issue licenses to hotels under the Hotels Act. It issues licenses to hotels in time bound manner and also monitors compliance as per the Hotel Licensing Regulations. By taking action against the unlicensed hotels, it ensures a level playing field for the industry. In addition, the board also reviews regulatory framework on a regular basis such that it remains relevant and responsive to the changing industry dynamics, and at the time protecting the interest of the consumers and public at large.
Similarly, STB governs and enforces license on the travel agents and tourist guides in Singapore. This process of providing license is done under the; Travel Agents Act and Regulations, the Singapore Tourism Board Act, and the Tourist Guides Regulations. These regulations are enforced by conducting regular checks on the travel agencies to make sure they don’t pose any financial risk to the tourist. This approach also assures the tourists against any malpractice. Similarly, licensing of tourist guides makes available professional and quality visitor experience as expected of a world-class tourist destination. As a step in the overall governance, the board periodically reviews the legislation so that the regulatory environment remains relevant.
STB takes the lead in marketing multi-dimensional Singapore as a preferred destination for leisure, business, educational and healthcare destination (Singapore Tourism Board). In March
2010, the board change the brand from “Uniquely Singapore” to “Your Singapore”. The idea behind the change was to convey its strength in providing a personalized experience and that it remains relevant and compelling to a current generation of travellers.
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Also, to cater to the diverse tastes of the tourist, STB has devised a visitor-centric marketing approach. This approach has been customised to fulfill the needs of key audience in targeted markets. Based on extensive customer research and years of experience, they have developed sound understanding of target audience in the key markets. As a step in that direction, they have launched specific campaigns in markets of interest.
As most Australians consider Singapore as more of a stop-over destination and those who do venture out, are pleasantly surprised by it cultural diversity, the campaign targeted towards
Australian tourists have been named as “Get Lost and Find the Real Singapore”. In contrast, as the Chinese travellers try to seek greater depth from their travel experience, which includes new and unique ones, the “New Discoveries” campaign. This campaign is tailored to provide the Chinese tourist a more in-depth experience they expect. Therefore, this campaign will provide them with a deeper understanding of the place and greater reasons to return to rediscover the place.
Further, their market research on Indian traveller found out that they are very demanding and give preference to “aspirational, engaging experiences that deliver quality and enrichment, and which suit their passions and interests at the same time.” As Indian travellers have a global worldview, and also have a strong preference for families to travel. They also bond together through shared learning experience. Against this background, they have title the India specific campaign as “The Holiday You Take Home with You”.
Similarly, they have crafted campaigns for Indonesian and Malaysian tourists as well. This one is titled “Only in Singapore, Right Now!” This is because the visitors from these countries consider travelling to Singapore an extension of their lifestyle. Therefore, this campaign has been launched to spread the word about Singapore as place for “bountiful, varied, and in-depth experience and lifestyle options”. For tourists from the Philippines, who typically travels with families or friends bonded through shared experience, they have created the “Singapore. See where the world is heading” campaign.
The board is also involved in development and sustaining the growth of tourism through “long-term strategic planning, growing markets, attracting investments, and developing tourism hardware and software”. (Singapore Tourism Board) Their long-term strategic planning involves conducting environmental scans on a regular basis. Also, by conducting trend analysis so as go get internal and external perspective. Also, to support its growth strategy the boards banks on its integrated network of 20 regional offices and 3 marketing representatives. This network also allows the board to attract and facilitate foreign investment.
Concurrent with these steps is the need to develop modern tourism infrastructure. Therefore, the board actively plans for new infrastructural projects and at the same time supports the creation of innovative visitor experience. Along with this, the board also collaborates with the local industry
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Recovery from Crisis Situation
In the aftermath of 2009 financial crisis, tourism’s contribution to Singapore’s economy fell substantially. But thanks to global economic recovery and opening up of new tourism options by Singapore, it more than recovered in the year 2010. Largely due to their efforts, tourism had generated close to $7.9 billion in nominal value-added by the third quarter of 2010. Thereby exceeding the revenue for the full year of 2009 (Lin, Leong, & Wei).
Similarly, the Singapore government has been highly acclaimed for its e-Government services in particular in managing the crisis pertaining to their tourism industry (Pan, Pan, & Devadoss, 2005). With regards to SARS outbreak in the year 2004, the Singapore Tourism Board played a pivotal role in promoting measures to demonstrate awareness of SARS prevention so as to earn the confidence of visitors. In this context they partnered with CISCO, which is a security service agency.
In specific terms the board successfully led a campaign to educate and inform tourism related establishments on the preventive measures. Along with it, several grassroots level organizations as well as the Health Promotion Board (HPB) actively campaigned to spread awareness about preventive measures among the residents and the tourists alike. Further, to spread the education on the possible causes of SARS and the preventive measures against it, the government worked closely with clubs and societies. As a step in that direction, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) launched the COOL Singapore awards. Such programs were also launched by other organizations such as Health Promotion Board and local broadcasters. Working closely with these organizations, the Singaporean government ensured that corrective measures and other relevant information were properly communicated to all the stakeholders.
Conclusion
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Bibliography
Lin, T. H., Leong, K. M., & Wei, Y. Y. (n.d.). The Contribution of Tourism to the Singapore Economy. Retrieved from Ministry of Trade and Industry: http://www.mti.gov.sg/ResearchRoom/Documents/app.mti.gov.sg/data/article/24221/doc/Feat ureArticle%202_AES_2010.pdf
Pan, S. L., Pan, G., & Devadoss, P. R. (2005). e-Government Capabilities and Crisis Management: Lessons From Combating SARS in Singapore. MIS Quarterly Executive, 4(4), 385 - 397. Retrieved from http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/internet/Documents/S3SG05%20E-Government%20Capabilities%20and%20Crisis%20Management%20-%20Lessons%20from%20Combating%20SARS%20in%20Singapore.pdf
Singapore Tourism Board. (n.d.). About STB. Retrieved from Singapore Tourism Board: https://www.stb.gov.sg/about-stb/
Singapore Tourism Board. (n.d.). Industry Development . Retrieved from Singapore Tourism Board: https://www.stb.gov.sg/about-stb/what-we-do/Pages/Industry-Development.aspx
Singapore Tourism Board. (n.d.). Industry Regulation . Retrieved from Singapore Tourism Board: https://www.stb.gov.sg/about-stb/what-we-do/Pages/Industry-Regulation.aspx
Singapore Tourism Board. (n.d.). Marketing Singapore. Retrieved from Singapore Tourism Board: https://www.stb.gov.sg/about-stb/what-we-do/Pages/Marketing-Singapore.aspx
Singapore Tourism Board. (n.d.). Organisation Chart. Retrieved from Singapore Tourism Board: https://www.stb.gov.sg/about-stb/Pages/Organisation-Chart.aspx
Appendix A
