SINGAPORE — Despite tourist arrivals to the Republic falling by about five per cent in the first two months of this year, as compared to the same period last year, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) expects visitorship to grow modestly by zero to three per cent for tourist arrivals, and zero to two per cent for tourism receipts over the year.

Sharing these targets at the Tourism Industry Conference 2015, Second Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran outlined three ways to grow Singapore’s tourism dollar — boosting marketing efforts, deepening innovation and enhancing capabilities.

“There are reasons to be optimistic about the near to mid-term prospects for the tourism industry,” said Mr Iswaran. “Outbound travel to the Asia-Pacific is expected to continue to grow, so too intra-Asia travel as Asian economies and disposable incomes rise. We must be ready to seize our share of this growth.”

For a start, the tourism board will launch a S$20 million global marketing campaign in line with the nation’s Golden Jubilee. The campaign offers flight and hotel deals, and food and beverage and entertainment options. Already, more than 20 hotels have shown interest in coming on board.

The STB will also step up its collaborations with travel site TripAdvisor to build a global hub for local content, and increase efforts to help tourism companies build up marketing capabilities.

Mr Iswaran also announced plans to enhance Orchard Road’s position as a global shopping destination.

Pedestrian Night, organised by the Orchard Road Business Association, will be extended for six months, till the end of the year. Five-month pop-up designer store KEEPERS will also be extended for another 11 months, till Jan 2016.

On top of these, the STB will boost its investment in capability enhancement, by enhancing the Business Improvement Fund to support more initiatives and fund small and medium enterprises by up to 70 per cent.

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/modest-growth-expected-tourism-industry-year-stb