Next stop, Singapore where «Tourism industry Conference 2016 » is featured this year with a particular emphasis on the theme “Sharpening our strategies towards quality tourism ». Supervised by Singapore Tourism Board, this annual convention, to which I attended in April 2016, aims to federate all the Singaporean stakeholders around the development of tourism.

Lionel Yeo, STB’s Chief Executive opened the conference by unveiling his vision about the future of tourism.

What is the outline of this vision?

Instead of considering Singapore as a series of dissociated activities, tourist attractions, and tourist locations, why not look at the destination as a « mega attraction »? Singapore playing the role of a leisure park? This label might shock French people but it sticks well to Singapore as a very compact unit and to the opportunities offered which technology offer in this country. Who is better than Singapore to be able to provide a connected, secure and personalized end user experience?

In the framework of this vision, Singapore’s aim is to hold leadership position of innovation in tourism first by the introduction of new visitor experiences and second by promoting this offer. Singapore includes the visitor in the core of its strategic thinking in order to provide him with satisfactory amenities enabling him to get informed, to book, to move and experiment easily…in a totally personalized way. A trip to Singapore is from now on very smooth since the means of transport are very effective and the airport is highly qualified. Tomorrow, further positive steps will be made to go beyond the constraints, and consequently, make the tourists spend more!

In fact, the ultimate objective of Singapore is to increase the number of visitors (15, 2 million of visitors in 2015), as well as its total tourism incomes (14, 5 billion euros in 2015).

This vision must be backed up. Among the major objectives of this summit was to gather all the Singaporean stakeholders in the field of tourism. The aim was to associate them to such an approach, to involve them in the construction of shared tools of inspiration, of information, of booking, and of assisting the visitor to fully make use of the big data potential and give each visitor a unique experience.

To transform the country with the aim to reach economic goals is the challenge that Singapore has underwent for 50 years. However, tourism has become recently such a strategic field.

Those who have seen Singapore a couple of years ago can easily figure out that the country knows a rapid growth and that the visitors benefit from an enriched experience. While 10 years ago, the country was considered as boring, it is nowadays compelling thanks to the new launched ventures. The projects reached the most symbolic icons as Garden by the Bay and Marina Bay, but also the upgrading of the historic districts as Kampong Glam, Little India, the establishment of new museums such as National Gallery in 2015, the development of Sentosa Island…

This makeover was also achieved through including nature into the city, which is hugely beneficial for tourism. If Singapore is focusing over several decades on green spaces by developing the country first as a “garden-city” towards the locals, and then as a “city in a garden” towards tourists, it will offer to its visitors exceptional experiences linked to nature. Thanks to outdoor and layouts landscapes such as southern ridges, canopy walks the tourists can overhang the top of the trees laying in the tropical forest amid the city of Singapore.

Precursor, Singapore is now a pioneer in terms of dealing with nature. It is especially an inspiring model for all the rest of destinations worldwide.

From the first idea to its realization, there is often only one-step to Singapore! It is based on these approaches of vision/planning/realization/evaluation that Singapore has obviously been developing since its creation 50 years ago.

Nowadays, Singapore wants also to launch an ecosystem of start-ups in tourism, to stimulate an overwhelming tactic about the offer and marketing…, and keep on refreshing its offer in terms of attractions. What astonishes French people is Singaporean’s capacity to figure out a future totally different from the present, but also to reinvent, to move forward, and start from scratch…. Inventiveness and renewal are highly required to create a zoo of new generation, a new district, an innovative way of luggage delivery from the airport; the use of brand new generation of robots…Singapore is multi-faceted.

Even if Singapore is not the only innovative area in the world, it has just started to arise and it will definitely surprise us in the next 5 years…To be continued!

(Tour Siemens: City of the Future)

• Learn all about the green side of Singapore: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/
• To follow the news in French Singapore: https://www.facebook.com/YourSingaporeFrance/