Singapore Tourism Board is investing around £42 million in a campaign to encourage tourism to the destination during the recession.
BOOST (Building on Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism) will include a year-long global marketing campaign – “2009 Reasons to Enjoy Singapore” – promoting “quality” travel packages at good value prices.
Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India, Vietnam, UK, Germany and Australia are participating in the activity, which has kicked off with online competition, Fly On Us, through which consumers can win tickets to Singapore.
In the UK the focus will be on the promotion of Singapore as a must-see stopover destination, delivered in partnership with key operators including Trailfinders and Travel 2.
Singapore Tourism Board area director for Northern and Western Europe Divya Panickar said: “We are really excited to launch this campaign in the UK market and to be able to continue to work closely with our tour operator and airline partners. The UK market held up well under difficult circumstances in 2008 and this campaign will help us maintain our visitor arrival levels in what appears to be a challenging year for the industry.”
According the STB, the UK is Singapore’s most important European source market. In 2008 it generated 493,000 visitors – a dip of just 0.6% on the previous year.