July 19, 2017 TnH Global

Growing Tourism into Singapore together with travel trade from six (6) cities in India

Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Airlines Group embarked on a six (6) city roadshow across India, with positive participation from 39 Singapore stakeholders and over 800 in-market travel agents.

India continues to be the fourth largest source market in terms of visitor arrivals and third largest tourism receipts generating market for Singapore. To celebrate and sustain this relationship, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in partnership with Singapore Airlines organized a 10-day, six (6) city road show across India and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The first roadshow in India commenced on 10 July in Pune followed by Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata and Hyderabad and concluded in Colombo on 21 July. Themed “Growing Tourism into Singapore, Together”, the delegation was led by GB Srithar (Regional Director, South Asia Middle East & Africa), Adrian Kong (Area Director, South Asia, Mumbai) and Yuemin Li-Misra (Area Director, South Asia, Delhi). The roadshows featured stakeholders from Singapore representing hotels, airlines, integrated resorts, attractions, Destination Management Companies (DMC) and cruise operators interacting and networking with STB’s travel and trade partners in India. There was also an update session on Singapore’s upcoming tourism offerings as well as Singapore Airlines Group’s range of cabin products and experiences.

GB Srithar, while addressing the audience, spoke about fostering meaningful collaborations with the travel trade partners especially from secondary cities across India. He said, “India has always been an important market for us. For the second time in a row, Singapore received more than one million Indian visitors in 2016. As the region’s middle-class becomes more affluent, there will be immense opportunities for international outbound travel and tourism, especially among families, working millennials and incentive movements. Through the roadshows, we seek to renew our ties with the travel trade, entrenching existing partnerships and forging new ones. Through these partnerships, we seek to bring Singapore’s tourism offerings to our target audiences through creative promotions, and in the process, ensuring meaningful results for both our partners and the local travel trade.”

Feedback from Singapore stakeholders was encouraging. Yvonne Low, Executive Director, The Traveller DMC Pte. Ltd. said “The six city roadshows have received overwhelming response and interest. Singapore continues to be a top of-mind destination and we are all ‘fired-up’ to receive more Indian visitors in the coming months with fresh products and offerings.”

Asogan Jaganathan, Assistant Head – South & West Asia Sales for Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore added “All Roadshows across India observed overwhelming response amongst the local travel trade partners and their active participation shows that Singapore is indeed a very popular destination. Specifically for Resorts World Sentosa, these events have given us a platform to discuss business opportunities with existing and new partners, as well as thank them for their fullest support in promoting our products to their clients. Lastly, we would like to convey our sincerest appreciation to Singapore Tourism Board & Singapore Airlines for organizing these roadshows. ”