Changi Airport Group (CAG) announced the launch of its ‘Changi Stopovers’ programme, aimed at enticing passengers travelling through Changi Airport to stop over in Singapore and explore the city.

‘Changi Stopovers’ will be promoted jointly by CAG and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to overseas travellers in SGD 3.2 million (INR 16.15 crore) marketing partnership spanning two years. Under the programme, passengers who book a stopover package on the Changi Stopovers website will be provided with complimentary one-way airport-hotel transfer (by coach) and a mobile SIM card worth SGD 10 (INR 500). Packages are available from SGD 63 (INR 3180) per person onwards.

Peh Ke-Wei, Vice President for Passenger Development, CAG said, “We’re excited to launch ‘Changi Stopovers in Singapore’ with strong support from the Singapore Tourism Board. This programme is part of our continued efforts in strengthening offerings at Changi Airport, and to sustain and attract passengers who choose to stop over in Singapore. We are also working with our airline and travel trade partners to offer this stopover programme via their sales channels in the coming months. At Changi, we always aim to present our passengers with the best travelling experience. With Jewel Changi Airport opening its doors next year, its myriad of lifestyle offerings and attractions will also offer an enhanced stopover experience for our passengers.”

Jacqueline Ng, Director, Marketing Partnerships & Planning, STB said, “We’re pleased to partner Changi Airport Group in the Changi Stopovers programme as it enables us to reach out to a largely untapped audience. Through the offers in the Stopovers programme, we hope more transfer passengers would be convinced to stay in Singapore to explore all that our city and its myriad experiences can offer to make their entire trip even more memorable.”

Transfer passengers currently make up about 30% of Changi Airport’s total traffic, with passenger movements from Australia and India registering as top contributors to transfer traffic at Changi. India is Changi’s sixth largest country market, with the airport handling 4.3 million passenger movements in 2017. Last year, more than 730,000 passengers from India travelled through Changi Airport, onwards to countries including Australia, Indonesia and New Zealand. Singapore is connected to 15 Indian cities including top metros like Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai, with more than 250 weekly services operated by eight airlines.

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STB (Singapore Tourism Board) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) have collaborated to launch a new campaign and give tourism in Singapore a fresh perspective. The tagline, “Passion Made Possible” aims to establish Singapore as a unique hub for not just tourism but also businesses.

The campaign leverages on local personalities to tell stories of passion via series of videos. Some of the videos which span for more than 4 minutes on an average feature wildlife consultant such as Subaraj Rajathurai, Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant – Candlenut’s Malcolm Lee and Sneaker Customiser – SBTG’s Mark Ong. These personalities talk about their stories and passion in wildlife, cooking and design etc.

While the video has been released this week, STB has plans to market it via leading media-platforms, social networks such as WeChat etc. From the initial response on VisitSingapore FB page, it does appear that the video is being appreciated by all fans. To read the feedback from the community, visit this link.

From Amateur Skateboarder to world-famous Sneaker Customiser – SBTG’s Mark Ong

Have you seen the video yet? Tell us what do you think about it.

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Singapore Tourism Board along with MasterCard to promote a tourism campaign they have planned to lure Indian travellers to the destination. The campaign features father-daughter duo Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor encouraging the #FulfilAPromise initiative to the audiences.

MasterCard and the Singapore Tourism Board aims to target the Indian travellers growing in numbers to propel their annual vacation to the international destinations. They are swarming the social media with #FulfilAPromise so that Singapore is kept as a preference on the bucket list of visiting places.

“With summer vacations on the anvil, consumers in India get ready for the upcoming holiday-travel season. We wanted to bring the best of experiences and delight for our cardholders that truly money cannot buy. Experiences like such can be shared and enjoyed with people who matter to you,”

said Mr. Parag Bhatnagar, Vice President, Marketing, South Asia, MasterCard.

The campaign concludes on 6^th May 2016. It requires you to share your experiences as a MasterCard holder on MasterCard India Facebook Page or/and Singapore Tourism Board Facebook page on how you have fulfilled promises to your families. One grand prize winner of the campaign will get a curated stay experience in Singapore and 10 minor reward winners will be awarded a three night’s getaway in Singapore. The minor rewards will be announced for every week of the campaign period and a grand prize winner will be announced in the second week of May 2016.

Few thoughts this campaign drives:

#1 Instilling emotional connect

The hectic life demands us of so many things. One that’s almost ignored and kept on the backseat is spending quality time with our loved ones on the grounds that will understand. The campaign takes the for-granted spirit of working parents and instils in them a promise that should be fulfilled. The card holders will win a handsome and exciting vacation in Singapore to fulfil their promise. Spending quality time with the ones who deserve the most attention. Enough said.

#2 Exclusive MasterCard privileges

This comes down to market the experiences that money-can’t-buy theme stands by. The MasterCard holders will have access to various privileges designed and shared with people who matter to them.  MasterCard’s Priceless Singapore will connect people with their passions –shopping, travel, food and entertainment – and gives select access to a collection of exceptional experiences across the city.

#3 India is a growing market for APAC tourism industry

Encashing on the recent numbers provided by the MasterCard Asia Pacific Destinations Index (APDI) that stated that APAC is a fast growing tourism economy, Indians hoarded the destination with numbers of travellers increasing steadily. It crossed a million mark in 2015 with respect to the influx of Indian tourists. Singapore Tourism board hopes to keep the rate steady with this marketing campaign.

Singapore Tourism Board has established few other campaigns to promote the destination very actively. Its last one, Singapore Invites, was based on similar lines; Connecting families to enjoy their experience in Singapore and live their Singaporean dream. This one, however, captures the woes of a working parent and how they are unable to fulfil their promise to the little ones. The veteran actor, Anil Kapoor spoke about how the initiative is creating a surge of responsibility amongst all these people. The daughter, Sonam Kapoor, reminisces how she regretted as a kid that her father couldn’t take out enough time for her. She furthers that campaign aims to establish that lost bond of communication amidst parents and children.

Singapore is at a threshold of booming tourism where various cultures and eclectic lifestyle infuse.  According to data from the Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore received over one million Indian travellers last year, an increase of 7.4 per cent travellers from 2014. MasterCard’s partnership with STB is to boost the experience of MasterCard cardholders travelling to Singapore.

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Singapore is an amazing destination and surely sits on the bucket list of many. Singapore Tourism Board, came up with a unique travel campaign called ‘Singapore Invites’ giving people a chance to live their Singapore dream. This campaign is about showing an extraordinary glimpse of Singapore, reconnecting and sharing precious memories with families and friends and winning a chance to enjoy the beauty of Singapore with the loved ones.

To win a dream experience in Singapore, the interested participants will have to share the names of the persons they want to invite and how they wish to experience Singapore with them. 25 wishes will come true!

Creating the ‘Singapore Invite’ is simple:

1. Upload a photo depicting the dream experience in Singapore.
2. Share the names of the invitees and why the dream experience is meaningful to the participants within 150 words.
3. Submit the entry on Instagram using the hashtag ‘#SingaporeInvites and ‘#’ followed by the country of residence. Alternatively use this link to submit your entry.

The video below by YourSingapore might give you some inspiration for your entry:

The contest is open globally and the participants can invite a maximum of 3 guests. There is no limitation to the number of entries by the participants. The chances of winning increase by sharing the entries on Facebook and getting more engagement. This contest will end on 6^th December 2015 and the winners will be notified via mail later. 25 lucky winners will receive return air tickets to Singapore, 3-night accommodation and chance to live the dream experience in reality. You can find more details about the campaign here.

Singapore often keeps hosting campaigns to invite more travellers to the country. Recently, Singapore Changi Airport hosted the #UnlockCelebrations contest to join the Indian festive season celebrations.

Do tell us what you think of this new campaign by Singapore.

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One of the leading and trusted advisors of the business world- McKinsey & Company– has come out with ‘Asian Business Traveller’s’ report. For its survey, it targeted 2500 travellers across five key markets in Asia- India, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and China- for analysing booking and spending patterns from the data provided by Amadeus and Visa. These countries were considered for the survey as they represent 78% of Asia’s business travel spends.

The attendees of TravelRave

According to the report, Asian business travellers enjoy greater autonomy where more than 50% of them view such trips primarily as travel experiences. In other words, they perceive business trips for not only professional purposes but as opportunities for enjoying the diverse cultures of international destinations. The disruptive elements of leisure travel are influencing business travel. Digital platforms are being used to book tickets extensively. Corporate travellers are showing keen interest on sharing economy accommodation for lodging facilities and interestingly 41% of the Asian business travellers opt to travel in low-cost carriers.

Convenience has become the most essential factor for most of the business travellers across ages and cultures. 53% of the Asian Business travellers deviate from the company travel policies for booking a travel carrier that provides a more convenient travel option.

India:

In the survey, it was found out that 32% of the respondents valued convenience above all other factors. To facilitate travel processes, digital platforms were used as well. This behavioural pattern was quite evident among Indian travellers above 35 years old.

China and Indonesia:

The ‘feel good’ factor is of utmost importance for most of the Chinese and Indonesian business travellers who fall in this category. The survey found out that 94% of them were ready to pay more for additional services and have distinctive travel experiences. .

Singapore and Japan:

The travellers of these countries are ready to spend a substantial amount of money on costly air-carriers. They observe travelling as an opportunity to maximise loyalty rewards, prioritizing  comfort over rewards. Only 25% of them were willing to fly in low-cost carriers although Singaporeans and japanese travellers are more budget conscious than the others. .

Mr. Andrew Phua, Director of Exhibitions and Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board, quoted:

“However, as research on this region has been lacking, this report on Asian Business Travellers is extremely timely; we hope it will help travel managers to better understand Asian Business Travellers and maximise the opportunities of this dynamic and burgeoning segment of travellers.”

Through this research report, travel operators targeting these geographies can easily understand that they will have to offer more individualised travel experiences with greater services and convenience for travellers.

For more stories on TravelRave, click here. 

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The Singapore Tourism Board on October 21 launched a comprehensive suite of digital and mobile services for the Chinese market. Chinese travellers form a large volume of inbound tourism for Singapore and thus it is a significant market for them. The new services will make it easier for the Chinese travellers to look up information about Singapore. To do so, STB has joined hands with four different partners, online travel services Alitrip and Tuniu, and social review websites Mafengwo and Dianping. These partners will curate and distribute compelling content about Singapore to promote Singapore as a destination among Chinese travellers.

(From left) Mr Edward Chew, STB; Mr Anson Ling, Baidu; Mr Donald Yu, Tuniu; Mr Lionel Yeo, STB; Mr Lu Gang, Mafengwo; Mr Tony Duan, Alitrip; Mr Leong Yue Kheong, STB; Mr Tang Hao, DianPing; Mr Quek Choon Yang, STB and Ms Low See Peng, STB

(Image credits: Singapore Tourism Board)

WeChat is very popular in China and a large number of brands use the service to engage with their audience. To cater to the Chinese travellers, STB has also launched a YourSingapore WeChat account. Baidu also offers services similar to WeChat with Baidu Connect. STB will use it along with WeChat so that the travellers can have real time location based services on their smartphones.

Mr Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board said: “The digital and mobile revolution has drastically changed the way visitors research for and consume travel products, and underscores how we much stay ahead of the curve to adapt to the changing needs of our visitors. Only by doing so, we are able to ensure Singapore remains top of mind as a destination. Visitor centric experiences and marketing are both integral to our drive towards quality tourism; this expansion of digital services for China is a strong illustration of our commitment.”

The new partnerships and marketing activities won’t affect the existing channels. STB will continue to conduct its regular trade marketing workshops with the local industry to give digital platforms a boost.

With this new partnership with Alitrip, Singapore will have a dedicated Alitrip microsite. Leveraging Alibaba’s eco-system and big data, Alitrip will be able to curate the best offerings for the travellers thus allowing them to select products that best suit their preferences.

The MOU signing took place during the ITB Asia which is a part of TravelRave. You can find more stories from TravelRave here.

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