EXCLUSIVE: One on one with Singapore Tourism CEO

Singapore Tourism has outlined its strategy to phase into a mature tourism city and said its biggest challenge is to get Australians out of the airport.

In the last five years the destination has focused on infrastructure and the next stage is to build strong events year-round.

The tourism body has studied the cities of Sydney, London and New York for inspiration.

“I refer to these cities as mature tourism cities and my observation is that in mature tourism cities the emphasis is on events, on software,” Singapore Tourism CEO Lionel Yeo said.

Singapore will be looking to create music, arts and sporting festivals to build a competitive events calendar.

Yeo said that the hardware is now in place, with Gardens by the Bay, a new cruise terminal, sports hub and hotel builds.

Those new builds, however, have put pressure on hotels, with Bloomberg reporting on Singapore’s declining room rates.

“That’s not entirely unanticipated. There will be some pressure on the rates,” Yeo said.

“It’s a function of demand and supply… the market will sort itself out.”

Yeo said that he was in active dialogue with airlines to increase capacity from Australia through Singapore.

The ultimate goal for winning over the Australian consumer is to get them to leave Changi Airport.

There is huge potential for these transient tourists, with only 20% of Australian traffic through Changi leaving the airport.

“We think that there is more penetration potential in getting Australians out of the airport,” Yeo said.

“There’s potential for them to stay and break up their journey.”

But when Australians do leave the airport, they are extending their stay. The average length has crept up from 3 days to 3.2 days.

As this is an average drawn from more than one million visitors, some travellers are overnights but some are staying six nights.

“Australians are starting to see Singapore as a mono-destination in its own right,” Yeo told Travel Weekly.

Another sweet spot for Australians is a cruise industry that has set its sights on the ‘Caribbean of the East’.

“You see lots of water, lots of islands and places where ships can stop,” Yeo said.

“We are working with our neighbours. Cruise is not a game that Singapore can play alone.”

Yeo said that the cruise companies see large potential and will be bullish in the long term.

Meanwhile, the biggest challenge Singapore Tourism has is the notion among Australian travellers that they have been there, done that.

“A lot of Australians feel that they know Singapore when actually there has been changes in the last 5 years,” Yeo said.

“We have gone deeper on two fronts: as a global city and as a local city with a lot of character,” he added.

“If you haven’t been there in last 5 years its time for an update.”

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

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