September 28, 2016 TnH Global

STB extends hands in partnership across six cities in India and Sri Lanka

In 2015, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) crossed a milestone of 1 million visitors from India. To sustain and grow tourist traffic from the Indian market, STB recently organized a 10-day, six-city road show across key markets in India and Colombo in Sri Lanka. Themed “Extending Hands in Partnership”, the delegation was led by GB Srithar, Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) newly appointed Regional Director for South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA).

The initiative is envisioned as an annual platform for the region’s trade partners to get updated on the latest leisure and MICE offerings on Singapore and also for networking with their Singapore travel counterparts. This is part of a trade engagement strategy by the STB to strengthen the travel trade networks between in-market travel organizations and Singapore travel suppliers.

The Singapore delegation comprised representatives from top hotels, cruise liners, attractions, airlines and Destination Management Companies (DMCs), which travelled to the cities of Colombo in Sri Lanka and then to the Indian cities of Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Jalandhar.

The sessions saw an enthusiastic turnout from travel trade professionals with an average participation of 135 agents per city. While addressing the trade during the road shows, GB Srithar emphasized on meaningful collaborations with the in-market travel trade, introducing new travel experiences for the Indian audiences and to jointly embark on creative marketing campaigns. Speaking along the sidelines of the events, he said, “As we move into the next exciting phase of promoting Singapore to wider audiences in tier 2 cities, we look to fostering closer strategic and tactical partnerships with the travel trade to entrench the positioning of Singapore as one of the must-see destinations for the Indian audiences.”

The trade representatives from Singapore were all praise for the road shows and were unanimous in their optimism about the growth of Indian tourists into the Lion City. “Travelling to six different cities in 10 days may seem like a task but it is definitely possible. These road shows gave us an insight into the tier 2 and 3 cities in India, which are becoming important markets for Singapore. I thank STB for making this possible,” said Amanda Aw, Senior Account Manager – Resort Sales, Travel and Leisure, who was representing Resorts World Sentosa.

This installment of the roadshow saw STB introducing new technologies like Virtual Reality experience, featuring the STB-developed Merlion Hunt VR game. At selected cities, STB also set up a special photo-booth that used green-screen technology and Singapore-themed props to take guests on a virtual tour through a series of iconic tourism attractions around Singapore, which kept the events fun and casual.

“Lucknow has got an overwhelming response; in fact this is one of the best roadshows I’ve attended in my entire career. Coming to the Tier 2 cities is a wonderful initiative taken by STB and I’m looking forward to many more events such as these in the future,” added Diksha Batra, 2nd AVP, Star Cruise.

The six-city road shows certainly brought “Your Singapore” closer to the travel trade, allowed the Singapore trade to feel the pulse of the key Tier 2 cities and enabled strengthening of working partnerships with the in-market trade.