Industry Insights: STB Trade Engagement Session London

STB Trade Engagement Session London was held on Thursday 16 June at the very classy OXO Tower overlooking the River Thames. This was the last leg after two sessions in Paris and Milan prior to this session in London. 21 partners from Singapore attended the event comprising attractions (Gardens by the Bay; UK visitors liked its gardens which house different plants from their English gardens at home), hotels (One Farrer Hotel & Spa; they liked its cultural location in Little India), travel agents (Asia Travel Designers; used to target Indian visitors to Singapore, now has started to look at UK visitors to Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Singapore) and airlines (SQ, Finnair).

Ms Lisa Tang, STB’s Manager Northern & Western Europe gave a presentation and shared that the international visitor arrivals to UK in 2015 was 473,810, and we hope to up the figure to half a million this year. New recent attractions include UNESCO site Singapore Botanic Gardens, National Gallery, and cultural precincts such as Peranakan in Katong and Joo Chiat. Talking to the UK trade showed that they generally like Singapore for its clean and green image, and its vibrant modernity. But increasingly trade partners are also looking at new unique experiences for their clients that are off the usual itinerary, such as visiting a wet market or hawker centre, learning to cook a local dish, behind-the-scene tours, historical sites guided by lecturers or historians.

A mixologist from Nutmeg & Clove Mr Colin Chia, was invited to host a cocktail demonstration of his classic cocktails re-interpreted with a Singaporean twist e.g. featuring nutmeg, cloves, hawthorn dates, pandan etc. Apparently such ‘entertainment’ is necessary to attract trade partners to attend at creative venues as they are invited to many similar events all the time.