Asia Pacific growth a double-edged sword for Singapore

The Asia Pacific region may provide Singapore with its largest inbound tourism markets but it also represents the nation’s biggest challenge, says one of its country’s senior MICE industry executives.
 
Currently, the top international source markets for Singapore are Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India and Australia, and these remain “consistently strong”.

However, according to Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau MICE executive director Jeannie Lim, the Asia Pacific region also looms as the largest threat to the Lion City’s ambitions of increasing its share of the tourism and MICE pie.  

“The challenge for us is growing competition from the region,” Ms Lim said in an interview with e-Travel Blackboard.“I think in Asia there are really many, many great destinations, but where we see our strength is we are compact, easily accessible and have very good air links to the rest of the region.”

And with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) forecasting growth of around nine to eleven per cent for travel to the Asia Pacific region – roughly two times the growth predicted for the rest of the world – Ms Lim said Singapore remained committed to better understanding “our visitors, our customers, and knowing what it is they want, what they are looking for”.

“In Singapore we really believe in customizing an experience for the visitor,” she said.“That’s embodied by our brand: Your Singapore.”

Source - etravelblackboard.us