FT magazine checks out the Lion City

Today Online 13 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - Can the little red dot transform itself from "a ho-hum stopover to hot destination"?

That multi-million-dollar question is examined in this week's issue of The Financial Times magazine, How To Spend It.

Entitled "The Lion City Revs Up", the four-page cover story - which includes photos of the island's changing skyline, makes for a perfect Course 101 on the new-look Singapore.

Writer Maria Shollenbarger notes that Government agencies, such as the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Economic Development Board, and private developers and investors, both local and foreign, are working together towards a common goal: "To add 'World-Class Leisure Capital' next to 'Business Capital of South-east Asia' on Singapore's CV."

She points to last year's F1 race, where the likes of Beyonce Knowles and Lewis Hamilton provided a dash of "flown-in sex appeal"; the upcoming integrated resorts which, along with their casinos, are aimed at turning Singapore into South-east Asia's hub for "high-end revelry"; the Singapore Flyer; and the Gardens by the Bay as among the massive projects undertaken towards achieving that ambition.

All these have contributed to the "growth of a legitimate leisure culture of new and unique shopping, dining, and hotel venues", she writes.

Apart from the changing skyline, Singapore also has "quite a bit" to offer visitors "looking for a more authentic and cultured take on the city".

"Singapore's ethnic enclaves are developing in ways that muddle the boundaries of their historic Jackson Plan-established identities," Ms Shollenbarger adds.

She cites Chinatown, where you can find original designers and retailers at Ann Siang Hill. In Kampong Glam, Singapore's Arab quarter, Haji Lane has turned into a mini-shopping destination where one can find Swedish menswear and mid-century furniture reissues.

Ms Shollenbarger notes that "Singaporeans also tout the emergence of a bona fide art scene, which is being engendered in galleries and exhibition spaces around the city - and with government help, in larger museums".

The STB hopes that Singapore's new attractions will increase the number of visitors to 17 million and triple tourism receipts to about $30 billion by 2015.

So, will the visitors come?

While there will be business travellers who could be converted into leisure ones "by the winning axis of Daniel Boulud-Louis Vuitton-Espa", the writer believes "others might not be convinced by all the dazzle".

The latter would prefer "to get their tropical fix in Bali or Phuket and their urban culture in cities that will always outdo Singapore on that front", Ms Shollenbarger says.

While Singapore can expect to reap economic dividends from the top-end hotels, entertainment venues and civic attractions, "now it's just a matter of waiting to see if they will, in fact, beget a sea of change in how the city's perceived", she concludes.