Singapore Tourism Board Research Articles

The Singapore Mall Generation: History, Imagination, Community ed. by Liew Kai Khiun

Reviewed by: The Singapore Mall Generation: History, Imagination, Community ed. by Liew Kai Khiun Linda Lim and Pang Eng Fong The Singapore Mall Generation: History, Imagination, Community, edited by Liew Kai Khiun. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2022, 304pp. ISBN: 978-981-5009-39-2 This collection of 10 essays and a foreword by 12 academics, arts and cultural studies researchers and practitioners, traces ethnographically the evolution of Singapore malls and their place in shaping memories and communities. It focuses on ‘older’ malls of the 1980s and 1990s, whose strata-title ownership—where different entrepreneurs own particular spaces in the mall—enabled and encouraged what might be termed a ‘bottom-up’ evolution of shop types and ancillary mall activities according to the eclectic interests of individual shop-owners, local customers and other mall participants. Most interestingly, the book peels back the veneer of shopping malls as primarily icons of the materialist consumption which dominates Singapore’s proudly pragmatic society, to reveal a more complex reality. Mall merchandising both facilitated and was shaped by community and artistic ‘fringe activities’ that spontaneously emerged to eventually define both the character and the commercial appeal of particular malls. Unintended and unplanned, art installations, indie music, dancing, and various youth and migrant worker subcultures sprung up to occupy the interstices and sometimes the main thoroughfares of certain malls. Lodging themselves in the collective memory of both locals and transients, many downtown malls like Far East Plaza, Peninsula Plaza, Takashimaya, Lucky Plaza, Tanglin Shopping Centre, and Orchard Towers can claim to be part of the national heritage. The book mentions, but does not explore in depth, the more recent transformation of Singapore’s malls as strata-title ownership gives way to S-REITS (real estate investment trusts) owned and operated by GLCs (government-linked corporations) and large global or foreign conglomerates. These employ a ‘top-down’ model of planned use, thematic unity and price-point conformity aimed at maximizing rental revenues. This usually means modernist architecture housing the luxury transnational chains found in other expensive global cities catering to a target market of high-end and international customers. Rising rental costs, together with competition from online shopping preferred by young people who also increasingly socialize and find recreation online, exacerbated by the remote working trend which reduces downtown and even suburban ‘foot traffic’, are already eroding the commercial fortunes of heritage malls and erasing their evocative past. The redevelopment of Funan Centre from a hub selling computers and component parts into a gleaming glass palace (with dedicated space for community-oriented activities), and a wide selection of eateries, provides an example of corporate ambition in line with new values, but not with people with fond memories of the old Funan. This reflects the ambivalence in [End Page 141] many Singaporeans’ hearts — we are captivated by the new while longing for an imagined simpler communal past. As economists who personally experienced the entire trajectory of Singapore’s malls, and as members of what the authors call ‘the mall generation’, we would have liked to see more analysis of the reasons for, impact, and implications of this transformation in the context of Singapore’s entire socio-economic development. What has been the relative role of ‘top-down’ public policy and corporate globalization versus ‘bottom up’ market forces and local entrepreneurs in mall evolution? Looking to the future, what are the commercial as well as cultural implications for national identity, heritage and the ‘Uniquely Singapore’ branding once purveyed by the Singapore Tourism Board? Perhaps the lack of thematic unity, beyond nostalgia, among the book’s chapters is an unconscious reflection of respect for the messy yet vibrant, spontaneous ‘co-creation’ of ‘authentic’ localized spaces and voices that inhabited Singapore’s malls in our recent past. Linda Lim University of Michigan Pang Eng Fong Singapore Management University Copyright © 2022 Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society

Do Attractions Attract Tourists to a Destination? Explaining Theory with Empirical Data Based on Three Source Markets and Three Destinations

This investigation aims to understand tourists' motivation/attraction theories based on empirical data. It analyses tourists' basic profile, their key travel facts, needs and drivers/motivations, perceptions, top activities participated at the destinations, and places visited, along with destinations' promotional activities, which may trigger visitation/repeat visitation to destinations from source markets. In the current context, Britain, New Zealand, and Singapore are applied as destinations, whereas Australia, China, and India are source markets to analyse the empirical data made publicly available by Singapore Tourism Board, VisitBritain, and Tourism New Zealand. The empirical data supports that tourists' motivations and attractions are in line with Pearce's [1] model, and attraction and marketing appeals are in line with McKercher [2] and Leiper's [3] model. Singapore is specific needs satisfier for Indian and Chinese tourists, but it is a general need satisfier for substitutable attractions for Australians. Australians are attracted to particular attractions in Britain and New Zealand. Still, Indians travel with general needs, whereas appealing to Chinese visitors by Britain and New Zealand with specific and broad attractions do work. For New Zealand, to some extent, attractions become secondary. This paper provides implications for both inbound and outbound tourism stakeholders.

Sustaining a Hotel Business during Crisis: A Singapore Luxury Hotel's Journey during COVID-19

Richard Ang, a Singaporean general manager at Hotel J, aimed to be a strong leader during COVID-19 disruption. Richard sat in his office deep in thought as earlier in the day, he had attended a board meeting with his management team to discuss strategies, he wanted to ensure safety of in-house guests and employees whilst effectively managing cost to sustain the hotel business during the crisis. Leaning back in his chair, Richard thought to himself about the potential strategies presented by his team and the effectiveness of the current critical situation. Richard knew that this was not an easy decision to make, and how could he choose among the three options based on the uncertainty of the pandemic. Hotel J enjoyed and experienced the prosperity of the economy in Singapore since it opened in 2015. Tourism business was continually growing and doing well, according to Singapore Tourism Statistics 2019, Singapore recorded a total of 18.5 million international visitors who came to Singapore in 2019, they spent a total of S$27.1 billion in 2018 (Singapore Tourism Board, 2019). With a strong inbound arrival, Hotel J kept running over 85% occupancy with a decent average daily rate (ADR) at S$460. Hotel J has grown to become one of Singapore's leading luxury hotels. However, in early 2020, the spread of COVID-19 virus had caused many countries to implement nationwide lockdowns and restricted international travel to curb the proliferation of the virus. Singapore experienced a strong impact from this unprecedented event with the number of infected people increasing, fear of the unknown being unsettling, and unforeseeable disruptions to business and life in general thus leading to panic. As a result, the Singapore government imposed stringent measures in response. These measures include an increase in health, hygiene and sanitation measures, halting of social activities, compulsory donning of masks in public, and compulsory quarantine for anyone traveling to Singapore. The Singapore government employed the help of hotels to act as quarantine facilities to house individuals returning from overseas who are required to take fourteen days Stay-Home Notice (SHN). Many hotels expressed interest in accommodating SHN guests, as this option offered hotels a source of revenue, due to the fact that the government remunerated the hotels accordingly. Thus, becoming an SHN hotel was a good option for Hotel J. After signing a contract with Singapore Tourism Board, Hotel J was employed as a dedicated quarantine / SHN facility and overhauled its amenities to cater to the safety measures set out by the government. As COVID-19 infection rates in Singapore declined, the government began reducing stringent lockdown measures and to allow for small social gatherings. Additionally, hotels that were used as quarantine facilities could restart its F&B operations albeit restricted to serve in-house dining. This created a spur in the market where many hotels began to return to regular operations to recuperate losses incurred during the pandemic. Concurrently, the government offered Hotel J an extension of the SHN hotel contract until late 2021. Upon hearing the news, Richard gathered the team leaders to begin discussions on the possible strategies for Hotel J. The meeting ended at a stalemate where there was no conclusion on an agreed strategy and decided to adjourn the meeting to the following day. As the general manager of Hotel J, the final decision on the hotel strategy lies with him. Richard must consider the pros and cons of each option thoroughly. If you were Richard, what would you decide?

How the Singapore Tourism Board Confronted the 2002–2003 SARS Crisis

Abstract When the SARS virus was detected in Singapore in 2002, the Singapore Tourism Board stepped forward to become a key actor in the city’s response. Representing both government and the industry, it managed to maintain Singapore’s credibility as a tourist destination by the provision of up-to-date information for markets and the industry at home and abroad. Information Adapted from ‘Chapter 14 – International tourism and infectious diseases: managing the SARS crisis in Singapore’. In: Laws E., Prideaux B. and Chon K. (eds) Crisis Management in Tourism . CABI, pp. 186-199. © CAB International 2007

Exploring the Case: How the Singapore Tourism Board Confronted the 2002–2003 SARS Crisis

Introduction Following the outbreak and containment of the SARS virus in South-east Asia between 2002 and 2004, parts of the world that were not affected quickly forgot how serious the outbreak could have been. The countries affected, including Singapore and South Korea, did remember, and it is no accident that they reacted the fastest and were most effective in containing the first wave of SARS-CoV-2, more commonly known as Covid-19 or the Coronavirus. The important role of the tourism authorities in combatting the spread of the disease has also been largely forgotten. This case study tells that story, with a focus on Singapore. Ample documentation is available on the reactions of tourism authorities and the tourism industry to the Covid-19 crisis. Students of tourism will find it interesting to compare these with the earlier success story of Singapore and SARS-CoV-1.

The omnivore at home and abroad: The value to the state of food tourism discourse of diversity

While a discourse of difference has routinely been used as a marker of national identity, such an approach is premised on exclusion. By contrast, this article considers how inclusion or diversity may be employed in nation-building discourse, and its impact on the citizenry, as embodied in the omnivore – one who appreciates a wide range of cultural artefacts and, in doing so, evokes a high status. Using a Verstehen approach to critical discourse analysis, we analyse one kind of state media – the Singapore Tourism Board’s food-related webpages – to assess how they represent citizens and tourists as culinary omnivores, and how this may be interpreted to reveal mechanisms of hegemonic state control.

The Changing Role of Tourism Policy in Singapore's Cultural Development: From Explicit to Insidious

In the last three decades, Singapore has transformed from a cultural desert to a global arts city, thanks significantly to tourism. The Singapore Tourism Board was proactively shaping the cultural dynamics and policy of Singapore until 2012. But since then its official role in the country's arts and cultural development almost disappeared. The disappearance of tourism interests in cultural development stems apparently from years of resistance, dialogues, and negotiation. This study argues that the tourism authorities are still maintaining influence in the cultural dynamics and development of Singapore by reframing its involvement. It insidiously asserts its influence by enticing members of the arts community with resources, opportunities, and economic support to participate in the tourism industry. This article provides a dialogical understanding of how tourism has shaped Singapore's cultural dynamics. Cultural dynamics and tourism development in Singapore must be understood within economic and social engineering perimeters defined by the government. The tourism authorities do not only work with other government authorities, they use similar techniques in managing and controlling cultural development in the city-state. The Bakhtinian Dialogic Imagination is the heuristic that organizes and structures the complex and dynamic tourism–culture relations in this study. Three dialogical concepts—carnivalesque, heteroglossia, and polyphony—are used. Besides documenting the ongoing evolution of tourism in the cultural development of Singapore, this study questions the effectiveness of the arm's length approach to managing cultural development. The Singapore case shows that there are subtle economic and political ways to go round that principle.

Edible communities: How Singapore creates a nation of consumers for consumption

Scholars have noted the power of state-led discourse to create a national identity as an imagined community and have explicitly linked food to state-orchestrated narratives of nationhood. Others have described how a nation is constructed and maintained through everyday ‘banal nationalism’. This article combines the two to observe how state-led and everyday nationalisms are combined into a national promotional food narrative in order to attract travellers and the economic benefits they bring. Through thematic content analysis of all the food-related texts on the Singapore Tourism Board’s website this article uncovers dominant ideologies shaping tourism strategies aimed at driving consumption. Contrasting themes of heritage and innovation, unity and diversity, and local and international in food culture are presented to visitors, at the same time as defining the local people as consumers to further stimulate consumption. These findings drive analysis of how consumption may be depicted in a way that amounts to state-sponsored ingestion of a country and its people.

Food safety and tourism in Singapore: between microbial Russian roulette and Michelin stars

Drawing on multiple culinary traditions, foodways, and networks of trade, food is both good and important in Singapore. Brand Singapore relies on food culture to market itself to the world, but also to its citizens. Hawker food, that is, street foods, are at the core of that marketing, becoming a by-word for Singaporean culinary culture. Cheap and delicious food was used to shift Singapore from a stop-over to a destination. But this also reinforces ideas about high and low culture, embodied in what a recent travel blog described as the “golden rule”: “When you're travelling in Asia, whether you're in Sri Lanka or Thailand, in Singapore or Vietnam, Malaysia or China, cheap food is the best food.” What makes Singapore distinctive in the framing of ‘cheap Asian food’ is that it is considered much safer, travelers can try new things without engaging in the “microbial Russian roulette of street food” elsewhere. At the same time, regulations and systems that keep people safe can be perceived by tourists to make Singapore, and by extension its culture, too clean, safe, and hygienic. As Singapore emerges as a global food destination with Michelin stared restaurants and a destination-fine-dining culture, the Singapore Tourism Board continues to recreate the Oriental mystique of the destination by cloaking the modern manifestations of Singapore with stories of its Asian and colonial heritage. In focusing on food safety, this paper highlights the tension between high and low food culture, between safe and unsafe, between street food and fine dining, but it also considers how they are being negotiate in Singapore. Taste, its arbiters, makers, and guardians, are raced and hierarchical. Singapore’s food culture provides an example of these orthodoxies are both reinforced and challenged.

Assessing feasibility of film-induced tourism: the case of Singapore

AbstractThis paper discusses the feasibility of introducing film-induced tourism to Singapore. It compares the motivations and demographics of film-induced tourists with general tourists in an attempt to increase the understanding of film-induced tourists. The data was collected through questionnaires with tourists visiting the Singapore Visitors Centre in Singapore and three staff from different departments in the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The results show that film-induced tourism is a small niche tourism market involving tourists who travel due to films. The results also show that both tourists and STB staff believe Singapore should enhance film-induced tourism. The reasons STB hesitates to introduce this niche tourism are lack of sufficient budget and quality scripts, and Singapore is currently emphasising other forms of tourism that secure increased tourist arrivals. Importantly, South Korea is a strong film-induced tourism competitor that has already established its position in this niche, thus...

Potential Land Loss on Two Islands in Singapore with a Future Rising Sea

The Southern Islands comprises an urban planning area in the Central Region of Singapore and is made up of the islands of Kusu, Lazarus, Seringat, Tekukor, St. John, Sentosa and the Sister Islands. The islands had largely been expanded by land reclamation in the 1970s to create recreational space, beaches and swimming lagoons. The new coastlines are armoured by large quarry stones. Other than Sentosa, the rest of the islands are as yet undeveloped and remain as weekend destinations. As part of the Singapore Tourism Board’s plan to develop the Southern Islands beyond Sentosa, a second phase of land reclamation was started in 2000 to link Seringat, Lazarus and St John. Recent suggestions include turning Lazarus Island into a getaway for the super-rich or housing a casino. The small Kusu is an important pilgrimage island for both the Chinese and Malays and will probably remain so in future. However, whatever development or non-development is planned for Lazarus or Kusu, the impacts of a future rising sea must be addressed regarding the sustainability of the two islands. Reclamation that took place in the 1970s as in Kusu was before concern about global warming. Consequently, the crest of sea walls and platform levels of reclaimed land are low and vulnerable to wave overtopping and inundation during extreme high tides. The newly-reclaimed Lazarus Island with higher platforms and sea walls tells a different story. Inundation analyses using Geographic Information System for different time frames carried out under A2 emission scenario for Lazarus and Kusu suggest that although the two islands tell different tales, nevertheless extra care must be taken in developing or sustaining both islands to avoid future problems.

A Taste of Singapore: Singapore Food Writing and Culinary Tourism

A Taste of Singapore: Singapore Food Writing and Culinary Tourism

Portable Histories in Mobile City Singapore: The (Lack)Lustre of Admiral Zheng He

‘Singapore stories’ are frequently tales of departure and arrival, but in the midst of this the nation-state has set out to construct a sense of permanence, and with that a future, such that the transits might become meaningful in the national narrative. Those who leave are supposed to be overseas Singaporeans; those who come, new Singaporeans. To this end, the country could do with an icon of mobility such as Zheng He, who evokes history, character and expansiveness. His legendary journeys stimulated imaginations and marked the apex of the navigational technology of his day. In mainstream historical accounts, he was a figure of peace, representing the mighty yet benevolent Middle Kingdom, and even a folk deity. The 600th anniversary of the launching of the first voyage in 1405 was celebrated throughout China and the Chinese diaspora. In Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board and private agencies rode on the worldwide publicity generated by the 2002 book by Gavin Menzies – arguing that China discovered America before Columbus and circumnavigated the world before Magellan – to host a range of mega-events, including an international exhibition based on the book's claims. However, the celebrations were dampened by the efforts of Singapore-based Geoff Wade, a historian of Ming dynasty China, who has tirelessly disputed such claims. Other scholars and businessmen in Singapore have also entered the fray. From Raffles to Zheng He, Singapore's search for history serves only to emphasize its historical rootlessness.

Geographical imaginations of ‘new asia‐singapore’

‘Geographical imaginations’ constitute an important aspect in geographic research, enriching our understanding of places and societies as well as the contested meanings people have towards spaces. The marketing and development of tourist destinations offers a fertile ground for the exercise of geographical imagination. This paper explores how tourism marketing distils the essence of a place, and ‘imagines’ an identity that is attractive to tourists and residents alike. Such spatial identities, however, are seldom hegemonic and are often highly contested. Using the case of the ‘New Asia‐Singapore’ (NAS) campaign launched by the Singapore Tourism Board, we explore the geographical imaginations involved in tourism marketing, and its consequent effects on people and place. Specifically we discuss the role and rationale of tourism planners in formulating the NAS campaign; the actions of tourism entrepreneurs in creating NAS commodities; and the reactions from tourists and local residents towards the NAS images. We argue that the nexus of policy intent, entrepreneurial actions and popular opinions yields invaluable insights into the highly contested processes of tourism development and identity formation.

The Singapore River thematic zone: sustainable tourism in an urban context

This paper explores the concept of sustainable tourism and how it applies to urban destinations such as Singapore. As tourism is an important industry in Singapore, in terms of employment, business activity and an income generator, the Singapore Tourism Board is continuously looking at potential avenues to make Singapore a competitive destination. We examine the use of thematic zones in Singapore as a strategy to achieve its ambition of becoming a tourism capital of the world. By focusing on a case study of the Singapore River thematic zone (one of the 11 thematic zones identified by the Singapore Tourism Board), we assess the viability of thematic zones in ensuring sustainable urban tourism. The paper closes with some theoretical reflections and policy implications arising from our key findings.

Paradigm Shifts: National Tourism Organisations and Education and Healthcare Tourism. The Case of Singapore

This paper examines the changing role of national tourism organisations (NTOs) with particular reference to the case of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Problems and opportunities confronting NTOs are examined and some trends in marketing and product development are identified. Education and healthcare are attracting increasing interest and acquiring heightened priority, a process which requires a reassessment of definitions of tourism and the responsibilities of tourism boards. While both spheres are of commercial significance, they also pose considerable challenges for NTOs unaccustomed to working in these areas.

The Singapore Gold Circle: Perceptions of local customers of travel agencies

AbstractThe Singapore Tourism Board has created an ambitious service quality programme, the Singapore Gold Circle (SGC), for the local tourism industry. To date, the Board has made the programme available to the retail, travel agent and tour operator, and spa sectors. This study looks at the SGC to determine, from a travel consumer perspective and with a focus on the travel agency sector, the value and effectiveness of the programme. In addition to the value of the findings to the local tourism community, if successful, such a programme may serve as a blueprint for other national tourism organisations or regional associations seeking to raise the quality of their product. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Contrasting strategies: Tourism in Denmark and Singapore

This paper analyzes and compares the tourism strategies of Copenhagen and Singapore and examines how Wonderful Copenhagen and Singapore Tourism Board manage their tourism industries and balance the different interests of locals and tourists. It discusses their respective tourism strategies and how they are implemented in each country. The paper shows that these national bodies receive different degrees of societal and institutional support for their programs and concludes that the local political environment affects the destination's tourism promotion authorities in terms of strategies, manner of operation, and extent of influence exercised on the local culture-scape.

Virtual MICE Promotion

ABSTRACT Hong Kong and Singapore have been the leading cities for hosting MICE in Asia. Every year, thousands of events are held, both by local and international organizers, in Singapore and Hong Kong. Despite the significant economic contributions of MICE to a local economy, hospitality and tourism literature seldom analyzes Hong Kong and Singapore in terms of MICE promotion. The absence of published articles is particularly true in the context of virtual promotion. This paper reports on a study examining events promotion in the Web sites of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Singapore Tourism Board. The paper also analyzes the performance of the official Web sites in providing useful site selection information to event organizers and meeting planners. Empirical results of a content-based analysis indicate that the information provided by the Singaporean Web site is more comprehensive than its Hong Kong counterpart.

Gazetted hotels in Singapore: a banking study

Hotels can be classified as a type of business which not only uses large amounts of capital, but also employs relatively large numbers of people. The present study sets out to establish how Singapore’s Gazetted hotels (i.e. those hotels which have met certain minimum criteria as laid down by the Singapore Tourism Board) select their bank. The study also sought to establish how satisfied these hotels were in relation to the various selection criteria, the range of bank and non‐bank financial products they used and the extent to which they engaged in multiple banking and why. The results showed that pricing and geographical proximity were very important when selecting a bank. Generally, banks were found to more than satisfy the respondents in relation to the selection criteria, especially in regard to geographical convenience and accuracy of bank statements. The Gazetted hotels used a range of borrowing and non‐borrowing products, indicating that they are generators of both fee and interest income for banks. A majority of the respondents engaged in multiple banking and mainly did so in order to seek out the best borrowing rates.