Exclusive: Singapore Tourism Board CEO

Singapore is in the midst of massive change.

The city is shirking its old identity of a layover, business traveller destination to that of a dining and drinking paradise.

Redefining tourism in the country, Singapore Tourism Board hosted key media and trade partners at the exclusive launch and preview of Singapore: Inside Out at Sydney’s Kensington Street on Thursday evening last week.

Guests were treated with a sneak preview of the creative showcase, which included over 20 performances from artists, musicians and dancers along with Singaporean cuisines and world-class cocktails.

Following the hugely successful event, Travel Weekly sat down with Singapore Tourism Board CEO Lionel Yeo to find out how the city’s changing.

For Yeo, the biggest changes have occurred in the last four to five years, with massive hotel expansion and an increasingly unrivaled food scene.

“There’s so many new hotels in Singapore. We’ve been steadily increasing the stock recently,” Yeo said.

“Our base is about 65000 rooms, but in the last three to four years we’ve been adding 3000-4000 rooms each year.”

“It echoes the kind of growth we’re having in tourism, we’re really pleased with the way the hotel industry is growing” he added.

As well as this, Singapore’s food scene is not merely booming, it’s found its place on the Michelin Guide.

“On the dining side, the Michelin guide has been in the country for two years now.”

“We proudly hold the record for the worlds cheapest Michelin rated meal,” he said.

As for Singapore: Inside Out, Yeo said the concept behind the campaign was to show the country as a place of diversity and forward thinking.

“I would say that with a presentation like Singapore: Inside Out people come away surprised.”

“People do not expect Singapore to be so diverse and as well as that, the content being somewhat avant garde and not at all mainstream.”

“The idea was to be weird but also thought provoking,” he added.

The campaign also follows the recent announcement that Qantas’ Kanagaroo Route will be heading back to Changi.

For Yeo, this is extremely promising in terms tourism, as “Changi plays a very important part of travel”.

“We have to entice people to come out of the airport, our approach for the Australian market is to change the idea of Singapore as a layover destination.”

“There’s a lot of opportunity to be harvested in that.”

“Of all the arrivals, 30 per cent are coming just for Singapore, and 70 per cent see Singapore as part of a bigger itinerary while travelling through Asia.”

Overall, Yeo and the Singapore Tourism Board want to change peoples’ perception of the country.

“Singapore was originally known as business and financial city, the association with edgy fields hasn’t been something in the news so much.”

However he adds, “the time is right for us to spotlight our diversity.”

“The definition of the country itself is continuing to evolve.”

“Really we just want people to come and understand the spirit of Singapore.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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