In order to sustain and grow tourist traffic from the India market, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) recently organised 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, regional director – South Asia, Middle East and Africa, STB. In 2015, Singapore received over one million visitors from India.
The initiative is part of a trade engagement strategy by STB to strengthen the travel trade networks between in-market travel organisations and Singapore travel suppliers.
The Singapore delegation comprised representatives from 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 average participation of 135 agents per city. While addressing the trade during the road show, Srithar emphasised on 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 phase of promoting Singapore to wider audiences in Tier II 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.”
“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 II and Tier III cities in India, which are becoming important markets for Singapore,” commented Amanda Aw, senior account manager – resort sales (travel and leisure), Resorts World Sentosa.
STB also introduced technologies such 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 tourism attractions around Singapore.
“Lucknow has got an overwhelming response. This is one of the best roadshows I have attended in my entire career. Coming to the Tier II cities is a wonderful initiative taken by STB and I am looking forward to many more events such as these in the future,” added Diksha Batra, AVP, Star Cruise.
