Singapore sling

Category : Best International Tourism Board
Winner : Singapore Tourism Board

Rebecca Lim Wan Yee Area Director - Western India, Singapore Tourism Board

I feel so honoured to be walking away with the award this year. It is the first time for us and I can tell you that this only spells out how seriously committed we at Singapore Tourism are to the Indian market. It is no easy task to have competition with so many other players in the market, where everyone is trying to outdo the other with a better product. In such a situation, you have to create a niche for yourself so that there is brand recognition.

Winning this award of course recognises the efforts that have gone into increasing visibility in the Indian market. Our targets for 2008-09 are to climb higher, draw in even more visitors and keep on innovating and we are very excited about the things to come.

This is what we have done with our latest bouquet of products, including the Singapore Flyer Program and the Uniquely Singapore Escapes. Last year, India was ranked as the fourth largest market to Singapore and we hope it will grow in the years to come. We have invested in a good advertising and marketing campaign as well so that we maintain our position as one of the top destinations. Our focus is to tap both the leisure and MICE segments, particularly the latter that has seen a steady growth in the recent years.

The next three years will be crucial for us, and for that matter, any tourism board operating in India. The tourism industry will transform itself like never before so that there is even more competition. The Indian traveller will have to be serviced in more ways than one.