A Conversation With Jonathan Loh, Area Director, Northern & Western Europe, Singapore Tourism Board

1.       So, how long have you been in London?

I’ve been working here for three years now, and I will soon be de-posted to Singapore end of July to join the Admin and Estate Department in STB. Prior to this posting, I spent three years in Tianjian, China with Keppel Land working on commercial and industry property doing business development work in the Tianjin Eco City.

2.       What is 1 thing you like most about London/ Europe?

I would say it is the cultural diversity in Europe with its different cultures.  Every country in Europe is so rich in culture and history.

3.       What is 1 thing you think Singapore can learn from Europe?

London is a hub for Europe, and similarly Singapore can be a hub for South-east Asia.  Tourists who come to Europe must visit London and from here, they will go to Paris etc.  In the same way, SEA is made up of different countries with their own unique cultures such as Thailand or Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  Singapore can be this hub in Asia so that tourists who want to come to Asia must visit Singapore, and from here, venture out to explore other cities. It helps that our Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport are well-renowned, so tourists want to fly Singapore Airlines and land in Changi Airport, visit Singapore, and the other cities in Asia.

We have seen some success in our partnerships with the travel industry here and were hoping to hit or even exceed the half million mark for visitor arrivals from UK. Unfortunately with Brexit now the economy is unstable so Britons may be more cautious when deciding to travel overseas. However, we will continue what we have been doing, to build mindshare in the market so that Singapore will be the destination they think of when they think of travelling.

Thank you, Jonathan.

Web In Travel (WIT) Europe 2016

WIT Europe was held for the first time in Europe in London on 30 June 2016 in Tate Modern, with STB as the presenting partner. A cocktail session was held in the evening at Town Hall Hotel (by Loh Lik Peng/ Unlisted Collection) hosted by Momondo Group.

The theme for WIT Europe was Reboot Asia, and it shares insights into how companies in Europe can work their way into Asia.  Speakers were aplenty including panel discussions with Priceline, Sabre, AccorHotels, Circos Brand Karma, and Venture Republic (Japan), TideSquare (Korea), GetYourGuide (China), and CarTrawler, Skyscanner; state of the market reports from China, Japan, South Korea; spotlights on China, low cost carriers, Contiki Holidays; destination case studies from Singapore, Australia; coffee chats with Momondo Group, Unlisted Collection; and ending with the signature great WIT debate on the proposition: Europe is finished, the future belongs to Asia. 

It was an intensive enriching session, facilitated mostly by the WIT Founder and Managing Director Yeoh Siew Hoon, as well as others.

Morris Sim, CEO & Co-founder of Circos Brand Karma shared the new trends including Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality.  Watch the Tilt Brush by Google and Whale by Magic Leap videos which can be used to complement classroom learning. 

Hugo Burge, CEO of Momondo Group shared its company’s vision Let’s Open Our World with The DNA Journey video to show how we are more connected than we think.

STB and Thomas Cook also shared their partnership to increase visitor days of its visitors from UK to Singapore from the average of 3.5 to 5 days, but exceeded its target to reach 7 days with the Get Into Singapore campaign.

presentation by Tan Yen Nee, STB

coffee with Loh Lik Peng, Unlisted Collection

the Great WIT Debate

Tree 2010 by Ai Weiwei in Tate Modern

Town Hall Hotel

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.

oxo tower overlooking river thames

champagne, wine, beer, cocktail included

virtual reality

presentation by lisa tang

mixologist colin chia from nutmeg & clove

The Singapore Brand Story

STB destination brand YourSingapore launched in 2010 was designed to be customised to each individual and market segments e.g.

•     Australia: Get Lost and Find the Real Singapore
•     China: New Discoveries
•     India: The Holiday You Take Home with You
•     Indonesia and Malaysia: Only in Singapore, Right Now!
•     Philippines: Singapore - See where the World is Heading
•     Thailand: Experience Many Worlds in One Place
•     Vietnam: New Fun is Singapore Made

However, industry feedback was that the branding was not personal and the message was diluted across the various markets. 

A new marketing strategy was shared at the Tourism Industry Conference 2016, of Stories,Fans and Channels with the three Strategic Thrusts:

1.       Telling a Great Singapore Story

2.       Targetting the Right Fans

3.       Enhancing Our Delivery

Yee (2010) gave a history of the tourism destination branding over the years in his dissertation paper ‘Nation branding: A case study of Singapore’ from ‘Instant Asia’ in the 1960s-70s, ‘Surprising Singapore’ in 1985, ‘New Asia - Singapore’ in 1996, ‘Uniquely Singapore’ in 2004 to ‘Your Singapore’ in 2010. He suggested that the word ‘unique’ does not capture the essence of Singapore because every country is unique in their own ways. 

Henderson (2006) in her paper ‘Uniquely Singapore? A case study in destination branding’ discussed the Uniquely Singapore branding including its limitations. She discussed that the campaign was well-planned with active efforts to engage and involve the trade partners and local community.  However, the single destination brand may paint a uniform, bland, and over-general image.

More recently, STB shared its Destination Brand Story with Skift CMO Interviews on 3 May 2016 where Lynette Pang shared how data and real-time marketing are very relevant for engaging consumers.

Project LON #2: Perhaps it’s time to re-look the branding once again? 

STB Middle East Trade Workshop

According to the STB, Singapore welcomed 15.1 visitors in 2014, down 3% from the previous year.  Tourism receipts remained flat at $23.6 billion.  On a brighter note, tourism receipts per capita increased 4% to $1,561.  Visitor days also increased 3.4% to 56 million days and average length of stay increased 6% from 3.5 days to 3.7 days.    

Visitors from West Asia (including Iran, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE) number 170,154, an increase of 8.5% over the previous year.  Specifically, UAE’s numbers were the highest in West Asia at 75,742, an increase of 4.4%.  It is said that the key purpose of travel is medical tourism; everyone would know at least someone who has been to Singapore for medical treatment.  The industry is also looking towards Iran now that sanctions have been lifted, as Iran’s population is more than 50% of the West Asia market.

At the STB Middle East Trade Workshop on Sunday 17 April 2016, Area Director Middle East & Africa Mr Mohamed Firhan said that STB is stepping up its marketing efforts with the trade in the region.  There was a lapse of contact with the industry for the past few years, but they are ramping up the trade events and roadshows in the past 1-2 years again.

It was also highlighted that while Dubai consumers may deem Singapore to be an expensive destination, in reality, we need a perspective change.  Instead of comparing Singapore to our South-east Asian neighbours like Malaysia and Thailand who may be cheaper, we should compare Singapore with cities like Tokyo, London and New York, where our destination offerings are similar.  We want to sell our shopping and dining experiences, which are on par with places in Tokyo, London and New York.  UAE consumers have no qualms spending for example, six nights in luxury in London, so they should compare Singapore with those prices and experiences.  We want to show the consumers that Singapore has a range of food and dining experiences, from the affordable like food centres to the high-end like celebrity chef restaurants, from shopping at marketplaces to designer wear at Orchard Road.

At the tradeshow, STB offered its Middle East trade partners a glimpse into Singapore via the Samsung 360 virtual reality camera that offers users a 360 panoramic view of the city’s attractions.  Many of the trade loved the gadget and were amazed at the realistic city views.  They especially loved places like Sentosa and the gardens such as Gardens by the Bay (Cloud Forest) and Botanic Gardens (newly minted UNESCO site since July 2015).  This could be due to the lack of lush greenery in Dubai, unlike Singapore’s tropical rainforest climate.     

Some tools for the trade shared included the STB Content Hub with more 20,000 images and videos at https://www.stbcontenthub.com/.

Following the trade workshop in Dubai, the fifteen companies comprising delegates from hotels, tour operators, airline (SQ), shopping mall (ION Orchard) and integrated resort (RWS) from Singapore and UAE will continue to roadshows in Kuwait, Qatar and Iran.  

welcome dinner for delegates

Presentation by STB

Presentation by SQ

A Conversation With Mohamed Firhan, Area Director, Middle East & Africa, Singapore Tourism Board

1.       So, how long have you been in Dubai?

I’ve been here for one and half years now.  Previously, I was posted to the STB Jakarta office for about three years.  I first joined STB as a Management Associate (MA) after I graduated from university with a Political Science degree.  I started in MICE division and moved on to Manpower Development division during my MA days, after which I stayed another 2 years in MICE before my first posting.

2.       What are 3 things you like about Dubai?

I like the diversity in Dubai.  If we say Singapore is a multi-cultural city, then Dubai is even more multi-cultural.  In Singapore, we have the four major races; in Dubai we have people from many different nationalities.  In a block of apartment, you may be staying with about 20 different nationalities of people as your neighbours. Many of these people come with their dreams and aspirations to make it big in Dubai, and they are very motivated.  I really enjoy the cultural interaction with these people. 

Secondly, I like that there is a wide range of halal food in Dubai.  Everything here is halal, from Chinese to Thai, Indian to Lebanese.  It is really convenient to get my food here.

Thirdly, it is centrally located.  I have been on many holidays from here, to Europe, Middle East, even South Asia.  There are frequent work and personal travel opportunities. My colleagues tells me “Firhan, you are always not around!” But I guess travel is an essential part of our job since we do cover a huge geographical area of the entire Middle East and Africa from Dubai. I do travel with my local colleagues too as I rely on their market knowledge and contacts in tougher markets. I am blessed to have the chance to live in one of the most admired cities – Dubai and I enjoy my work here. My personal travels from here are a bonus.

3.       What is 1 thing you think Singapore can learn from Dubai?

This is a tough question. In many ways, Dubai has learnt a lot from Singapore.  If you go to Dubai and Abu Dhabi now, you will see the design of the cities very much like how Singapore is designed.  Everything looks very familiar.  The Doha airport is very much like our Changi Airport, down to the colours and font of the signages.    

If there is one thing we can learn from Dubai, perhaps it is their boldness in their planning and strategy. They too benefit from a leadership with foresight and political will to make things happen for the country. I guess it is also their ability to quickly learn from others and also attract the best talents from the various fields to contribute to their success story. I truly think the best is yet to come for UAE and Dubai.

Thank you, Firhan. 

Firhan, in his STB Dubai offfice