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Singapore counts on Indians to bail out tourism sector
OUR BUREAU
PUNE, January 20: With Singapore's tourism industry in dumps due to the South-East Asian currency crisis, several measures have been undertaken to attract tourists from North America and Europe. Several incentive travel packages are on offer to Indian companies to meet the target of 7 million tourists this year."We are in a time-lag at the moment,' admits Ong Keng Yong, High Commissioner, Republic of Singapore, who is on a two-day visit to Pune and will make a presentation on the incentive travel packages promoted by Singapore Tourism Board. The High Commissioner who swears by the maxim of not putting all eggs in one basket is not unduly pessimistic about the current slowdown. While India accounts for only a meagre 2.5 lakh tourists to Singapore, the Tourism Board has decided to tap Indian companies which are committed towards employee welfare and offer travel packages as incentives. Currently, the Singapore Tourism Board has stepped up its promotion campaign and are meeting reputed travel agents in
cities like Pune, Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi and Chennai among others. "Indian tourists find it very convenient to travel from Singapore to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and take direct flights to Maldives. We are a major transportation hub," says Ong Keng Yong. While major chunk of tourists to Singapore hail from the South East and East Asian regions like Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, China and Korea, the Indian tourist market has grown by 10 per cent, he adds. Preferring to term it a `cyclical retrenchment' process, Ong Keng Yong pointed out that the tourism industry had faced three such bad cycles earlier. We are short of our target by five per cent this year, though the loss has had its impact on the retail business and transportation industry.Since there was a good growth in the first three quarters last year, Singapore's economy averaged to 6.7 per cent.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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