Strategic Planning for Singapore Tourism
Tourism can prove to be very advantageous for the countrys economy as the tourists will just spend their money in the country, providing the country with a source of revenue. The money, hence, can be used to serve multiple purposes, providing the public and the government of the country with positive opportunities. (Bland, 2010)
Not only do the country and the people living in the host country reap economic benefits out of the development of the tourism industry, but at the same time there will be numerous positive effects of other aspects of life, like the peoples social well-being.
Many countries in the world are now promoting their tourism industry, in order to attract tourists. This gives them a strategic advantage and a higher hand in related matters too. Hence, the country becomes more prominent and strong, along with being richer. (Bland, 2010)
In the entire world, countries are competing with each other to get an increased amount of the total market share of the worlds tourists. With countries like France, having Paris with their tourism spot, competing for the market share with all the other smaller countries, it makes the competition even more rigorous. .( E Turbo News, 2010)
Concentrating mainly on the Asian region, the foremost example can be Malaysia, which has been marketing itself as a tourism spot since some time now. And it has been quite successful in its endeavors too. Likewise, there are other countries in the Asian region where influx of tourists are high, for example, Hong Kong, India and Thailand. These countries prove to be a tough competitor for every other country trying to boost its tourism industry.
Hence, many countries have rejuvenated their strategic plans for developing their tourism sector. This revitalization requires a great amount of investment too, but countries are ready to make it. In this list of countries, the vanguard is Singapore. Singapore has been dynamically attempting to attract tourists in order to promote their tourism industry by making huge investments in the tourism sector and is ambitious about attracting the highest number of tourists the world.
The objective of this report is to mainly focus on the Singaporean strategic planning to attract tourists. The concentration of the reports discussion will be Singapores use of resources in what way have they used up their resources to boost the tourism industry and how effective has it been.
The fore mentioned countries are the toughest competitors of Singapore because of them being in proximity with Singapores land. Thus, Singapore needed to pioneer an idea and concept of such a facility that would readily pull the tourists towards it. Thus, Singapore has been pumping in investments to build the countrys tourism industry.
The major investment and the new signature of tourist attractions are the Integrated Resorts inducted by Singapore. The effectiveness of this ambitious project along with the costs involved in setting the Integrated Resorts will be discussed and analyzed. . (Ministry of trade, 2010)
The issue of Integrated Resorts has been debated largely throughout Singapore and there are many proponents and opponents of this issue. This report will present a critical analysis considering both the sides of the issue, and the justifications portraying the reasons of the standpoints of the subjects opponents and advocates. . (Ministry of trade, 2010)
Singaporean government has been struggling to get a larger market share of the tourists, competing with the other Asian countries like China, India. And with the reinvention of the famous cities of the world, like New York, Paris, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Thailand, it has become even more difficult to attract tourists. But it is a prime time to develop an Asian countrys tourism industry. The reason to this fact is that there is a large captive population in the Asian region. And most importantly, there is high economic developmental activity occurring in the Asian district, with an ever increasing Income level in the economies of different Asian countries and growing middle-class.
Thus, for Singapore, it was a high time to promote its tourism industry. But for this, Singapore needed to have such attractions that would draw the tourists towards it. The line of action to be taken by the Singaporean government and the Singapore Tourism Board had to be multi-pronged. The main idea put forward was the idea of Integrated Resorts. The resorts were destined to have a collection of high quality leisure and entertainment attractions that could compete with the entire worlds entertainment venues. The resorts were planned to open up at Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa in Singapore, both of which are now operational. The vast variety of leisure facilities and entertainment services has been substantial enough to catch the tourists attention throughout the world. (Lee Kuan Yew ,2000).
The total investment cost of these Integrate resorts is now estimated to be around S14.4 billion, making it one of the most costly in relation to the other facilities of this kind. The investment cost has been increased substantially due to the future prospects. Initially the cost was estimated to be around S10 billion. (Lee Kuan Yew ,2000).
The inclusion of a casino in the resort stirred up a great deal of debate amongst both the government and the publics. Many Muslims and Christians openly opposed this idea as being both religiously and morally erosive for the society. The opponents stance was based upon the fact that they believed legalized gambling can give way to other crimes leading up to organized money laundering. Legalized gambling, they pointed out, also opens up threats of broken families due to heavy losses.
Gambling has been banned in Singapore for more than one and a half century now. The idea of building a casino has been repeatedly rejected by the office holders in the government. But now, on the forefront of the advocates of the Integrated Resorts casinos was the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong.
Although the prime minister was not able to completely deny the fact that the induction of casinos in the society can be injurious, but still in his view of weighing against the economic benefits that the casino would attract, the casino had to be built. The reason he gave was that without the presence of casinos the entertainment resorts would be unable to attract the number of tourists it is intended to attract.
But consecutively, the prime minister also showed his belief in the fact that the relationship between the negative impacts of the society has not yet been confirmed of having a link to gambling by any famous research or study. Moreover, the dialogue sessions were held to discuss this issue with the various stakeholders involved, such as the grassroots leaders, religious groups and business community, to gather their views and suggestions and understand their concerns.
Considering the prospective adverse effects of gambling, measures were devised to minimize the adverse effects of this casino, such as high entrance fees for Singaporeans and prohibition on giving loans from casinos to the locals. Plus people in financial distress would not be allowed to gamble. In addition to these restrictions and precautions, the minimum age set by the government is 21 instead of 18 to avoid the heavy economic and financial crunches in the society due to the rashness of youngster, which is at its peak when they are under 18 (Study of HK Peoples Participation in Gambling Activities 2002, Hong Kong Polytechnic University). Moreover, local public were to be made aware and educated of the harms and risks involved in gambling.
At the same time, the prime minister has also presented the figures of Bellagios, an Integrated Resort in Las Vegas that the 65 of the revenues earned are from non-gaming components such as dining, retail and entertainment.
Furthermore, the mass media promotion and advertisement of gambling within Singapore was to be restricted.
The Prime ministers vision of the Integrated Resorts not only includes a casino, but hotels, shopping centers, restaurants, theatres, museums, convention space. At the moment, The Resorts World Sentosa is a host to Universal Studio theme park, Oceanarium Marine Life Park, Equarius Water Park, Maritime museum and Espa wellness Sanctuary. It has a total number of 6 hotels comprising of the rooms around1800. While the attractions at Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resorts include Art science museum, two theatres, High end retail and SkyPark. It has 3 hotels with the intended capacity around 2600.
The two resorts are somehow different from each other in specifications. The resort world at Sentosa was to be built by Genting Singapore. It had proposed Asias first Universal Studio theme park as well as a water park, the worlds largest oceanarium, a sanctuary and a maritime museum. It is intended to have six hotels, retail space and MICE facilities. While the resort at Marina Bay has been built by Las Vegas Sands(House on a hill, 2010)
It has been observed that there has been a substantial increase in the number of tourists poring in Singapore, due to its establishment of the Integrated Resorts. Recent statistics show that Indonesia, China, Australia, UK, and Malaysia have been the top sources of tourists coming to Singapore. It has been forecasted that in 11.5 to 12.5 million visitors would enter Singapore in 2010 and S12.6 S13.3 billion worth tourism receipts would be earned. But the desired target of the Singapore Tourist Board, for the two casinos is to attract 17 million visitors by the end of 2015. The average spending of a tourist in Singapore is now more than S1400, which can contribute significantly to the countrys GDP. (House on a hill, 2010)
The Integrated Resorts have also proved to be fruitful for the local public of Singapore too. More than 20,000 jobs have been created as the Integrated Resorts came into being. Moreover, the local related industries like hotels, airlines, retail and property have been able to reap profits due to the introduction of Integrated Resorts, and they will keep on doing so in the near future. (CLSA, 2009)
There are other long-term prospects and advantages regarding the future of the tourism industry of Singapore, with the use of its Integrated Resorts
There exists a large population base that can be captivated by the tourism industry of Singapore. Talking about South-East Asia only, there are a total number of 568 million people who are living in such proximity with Singapore that they can reach there in just about three hours. (CLSA, 2009)
The income levels of the Asian people are rising in general. An estimate by MasterCard tells us that the income levels of the Asian people will increase by more than fifty percent.
In addition to all this, Singapore also offers a great financial opportunity with just 15 tax on Grind Play and 5 tax on VIP, while the gaming tax rate in Malaysia floats around 25, and around 39 in Macau. Nonetheless, there will still be a corporate tax of 18 in Singapore as compared to its non existence in Macau on these revenues. (CLSA, 2009)
Along with the casinos being added to the tourism industry of Singapore, the government has also tried to set up a National Art Gallery, rejuvenation of Orchard Road and Formula One Grand Prix. Hence, with the government support at its peak, the tourism industry has bright prospects of flourishing.
As Singapore has a reputation of being a travel hub, it is easy to access by all possible routes land, air and sea. The current levels of flights arrival in Singapore is around four thousand five hundred in a week. Moreover, the casinos are near to the airports making them even easier to access. (Eturbo news 2010)
METHODOLOGY
The collection of information is largely done by using the internet as a source. A significant amount of information was gathered regarding the entire tourism industry of Singapore. This helped to form an understanding of the situation of the tourism industry of Singapore, as a whole. It also helped in understanding the background of the condition of Singapores tourism industry in the past.
Subsequently, literature available on the Integrated Resorts specifically, was gathered. The information in the literature helped to explain the overview of what exactly is the Integrated Resort and what does it comprise of. Moreover, the information obtained was also able to give estimates of the costs involved in the project. (King, Rodney 2010)
Furthermore, the issue of opposition against the Integrated Resorts was researched and the standpoints of both the opponents and proponents of this issue were studied. The ideas, reasons and justifications by the both view points are analyzed as well along with studying the fact that how are the opposing public of Singapore convinced and their animosity against the Integrated Resorts is reduced by the prime minister. (King, Rodney 2010)
By using the collected literature, the effectiveness of the new strategies regarding the promotion of the tourism in Singapore, is analyzed. The factors on which the analysis will be based on are the current profitability of the Singapore tourism sector, the cost comparison of the investments against similar types of the world, the probable future outlook and expectations from the industry, and the level of happiness and support exhibited by the people of Singapore for the projects currently.(Singapore statistic 2009)
Moreover, future prospects of the Singapores tourism industry are discussed, along with providing recommendations of what should be done about this issue.
ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
Interpreting from all the information present in the available literature, it can be comprehended that the government of Singapore has been quite determined to make Singapore the leading tourist attracter of the world. In its way to achieve the ambitious aim, a novel idea had to be introduced which was to be ground breaking and awe inspiring enough to be able to pull every tourist of the world towards itself.
Amongst the many investments and strategic plans for enhancing the profitability and attraction of the tourism industry of Singapore, the idea which has been discussed the most is the Integrated Resort. Its facilities and huge investment has already caught everyones eyes in the world. Thus, it seems to be on its track of achieving what it was mainly intended for. The entertainment and leisure facilities are on a world-class standard.
But amongst the lavish facilities and splendid attractions, the centre of discussion has been the casinos. Although not very uncommon in the entire world, the establishment of casinos in Singapore has resulted in the upheaval of contradictory expressions between the public. A great number of people of Singapore oppose the mere idea of casinos as being a vice in a society. Its relationship with the evils of society such as rise in theft, poverty and other social iniquities can not be denied.
Using the authority that the prime minister had, the idea was implemented anyway. The government has not yet been able to achieve consensus or unanimous acceptance of the public on this matter. But its economic benefits have been glamorized to such an extent that now the heat of opposition has subsided.
Till yet no such evident adverse effect has been observed which can prove to that the legalization of gambling in the region has infected the societys health. Hence, the policies of the prime minister seem to be effective till yet. And their strictness and genuine concern for the moral, economic, and cultural well-being for the people of Singapore seems to be well perceived by the public now. There are no prominent instances of opposition in the recent times regarding the concept and viability of the Integrated Resorts.
Even if there are no palpable negative effects yet detected in the society of Singapore, it does not give the assurance that there will not by any in the future too. The fact remains that there is enmity against the use of casinos in the Integrated Resorts on the side of the general public, which is deep-rooted. The blatancy of the opposition has sunk only due to the stunning economical benefits that the resorts are proposed to give in the future. Thus, the matter should be treated with utmost seriousness at all times by the government to make sure that there are not any large-scale negativities arising in the society that could be linked with the gambling in the region.
As far as the promotion of tourism is concerned, the Singapore Trade Board has been very effective in attracting the tourists as we can see a large growth in the tourism sector of the country. The local public also seems to be having a pleasant time with the new signatures of their tourism industry The Integrated Resorts. (Tourism Board 2010)
The assortment of facilities and activities in the Integrated Resorts are very conducive to its success. The Singapore Tourism Board and the government have planned the new strategies of tourism well, covering all its aspects from airline to the core activities to the hotels. The two resorts are also strategically located in the country as well, which gives them a great benefit of being accessible to more people. Moreover, the idea of putting such activities in each resort, which would appeal to their intended market, is a very workable one.
The induction of the Integrated Resorts in Singapore has proven to be serving dual benefits. Not only has it been able to attract substantial number of tourists, it has also been able to provide the local public of Singapore with a hearty experience. Except for the casinos, the local public is allowed to use the facilities as much as the foreign tourists. In fact, forty six percent of the visitors to the two Integrated Resorts are the people living in Singapore.
In addition, the Integrated Resorts have also invigorated the social lives of the people living in Singapore. It has provided them with a marvelous venue for their leisure time and activities. Plus, the economic benefits gained by these Integrated Resorts can not be forgotten. The money coming into Singapore will on one hand make people wealthier and on the other hand, the government and Singapore as a whole, much stronger. Consequently, this money will eventually be used in the economic development raising the standards of living for the people living in Singapore and providing them with additional facilities.(Singapore statistic 2009)
Hence, the economic future of Singapore seems to be very bright as there are further plans in the pipeline that will increase the number of tourists coming to Singapore.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it can be concluded that the development of the tourism and attraction sector of Singapore has posed many challenges for Singapore. Although the idea of Integrated Resorts seems to have been proving itself as a great till now, its future is still uncertain. The economy of Singapore will definitely thrive upon introduction of new forms of entertainment and leisure facilities. But the legalization of gambling in the Singaporean society will have its profound effects on every level of the lives of the people of Singapore be it cultural, social or economic.
Furthermore, the government of Singapore needs to effectively regulate the gambling activities to make sure that the feared negativity does not find the way into the Singaporean society. As well as proper check and balance should be maintained by the STB to make sure that the benefits of the rapid development of the attraction sector is duly harnessed.
Will the restrictive policies of the prime-minister Lee Hsien Loong be effective enough to restrain the adverse effects of gambling Only time can tell that. But on a more positive side for Singapore, it would definitely be eating up the market share of tourists from around the world in the coming years.
Thus, it can be concluded that the development of the tourism and attraction sector of Singapore has posed many challenges for Singapore. Although the idea of Integrated Resorts seems to have been proving itself as a great till now, its future is still uncertain. The economy of Singapore will definitely thrive upon introduction of new forms of entertainment and leisure facilities. But the legalization of gambling in the Singaporean society will have its profound effects on every level of the lives of the people of Singapore be it cultural, social or economic.
Furthermore, the government of Singapore needs to effectively regulate the gambling activities to make sure that the feared negativity does not find the way into the Singaporean society. As well as proper check and balance should be maintained by the STB to make sure that the benefits of the rapid development of the attraction sector is duly harnessed.
Will the restrictive policies of the prime-minister Lee Hsien Loong be effective enough to restrain the adverse effects of gambling Only time can tell that. But on a more positive side for Singapore, it would definitely be eating up the market share of tourists from around the world in the coming years.
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