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2018-02-01
Singapore thinks outside the box to create tourism resources
A trade warehouse is turned to a bar, and a monastery is converted into a restaurant
A former landfill is turned into a large garden and hotel long-term planning is in place to cultivate landmarks
Foreign events and brands such as F1 Racing, Universal Studio, etc. are boldly injected into the city
15.85 million foreign tourists visited Singapore, brining tourism revenue of 18.1 billion USD
“The bar we used to visit was renovated from a trading warehouse, and the garden over there and the hotel are all built on top of the landfill."
‘Gardens by the Bay,’ Singapore, January 24th. Tourists from all over the world were proudly boasting their historical knowledge on the development of the city-state of Singapore. The Gardens, built in 2012, represents the complex history of Singapore. The artificial garden was built following the completion of Marina Bay Sands, a top-class compound resort built on a landfill in 2010, which has become a symbol of Singapore. The skyline of skyscrapers across the river is, in a way, a mural showing the history of the city-state that experienced extremely rapid growth.
Printed and audio guides, provided in official languages from all over the world, like Malay, Chinese, English and Tamil, are all about the history and story of major Singaporean attractions, and tourists listened intently to the stories the city has to offer.
After eating at a Chijmes restaurant complex, which was formerly used as a monastery, followed by a drink at a riverside bar, such as the Krakow Boat Quay, formerly a trade warehouse, and ending in a night at a former colonial post office (Fullerton Hotel) or a British military barracks (Capella Hotel) tourists are naturally imbued with the city’s story.
An Australian tourist who was shopping in Orchard Road, a large shopping mall, said, "I found the 'Peranakan (a mixture of Chinese and Malaysian culture) street' between a large shopping mall and high-rise buildings. I had to take a look.” The tourist continued, “when you go shopping, you get to know the native culture. When you go out drinking, you go to an old trading warehouse on the riverside. You naturally get used to the story of Singapore.” Tourists uniformly praised Singapore for showing the city as a harmonious development that grew along with nature, citing the Botanical Garden, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the wildlife zoo as examples.
Singapore’s secret is the Tourism Strategy Planning Plan, established by the Singapore Tourism Agency for the purpose of developing the tourism industry for five years from 2016. The first marketing strategy of the Tourism Agency is 'Singapore Storytelling'. The plan is to develop a story to convey the history and identity of the city and to make it heard in various ways.
An official from the Singapore Tourism Agency said, "now, it's time to focus on the city’s stories and individual experiences rather than large-scale development projects.” "After completing the necessary infrastructure, we have to provide a variety of ways to feel and experience the city directly, and Singapore is the place to get the most experience in a short time in a small city,” the official explained.
Boldly injecting foreign elements to overcome narrow land and limited tourism resources and to add new narratives to the city also seems to be successful. The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, an F1 racing event, became the world's only night time motorsport event to be held on the public road in the middle of the city. Universal Studios Singapore, opened in 2010, has also become Singapore’s one of the most significant tourism resource.
That's why Singapore's tourism industry has grown steadily. The number of foreign tourists visiting Singapore (697㎢), which is similar to Seoul (605.21㎢) in area, was 15.85 million last year. This greatly surpasses the number of overseas tourists (13.34 million) who visited the whole of Korea in the same year. Tourism revenue (as of 2016) has also surpassed Korea, with the city-state earning USD 18.1 billion vs. USD 17 billion of Korea.
The secret to Singapore's success despite the lack of tourism resources was the cultivation of landmarks under a multi-decade plan. In the 1960s and 1970s, Singapore expanded its basic infrastructure including airports, recreational islands, zoos, and convention facilities. Highlights of Singapore's landmark cultivation efforts include Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, which became Singapore's symbol after its completion in 2010. Chul Won Kim, professor of Business Administration at Kyunghee University explained, "expanding the landmark and applying a 'story' to the city through close inter-ministry cooperation and private-public cooperation will be a key to the long-term tourism promotion strategy.”