Singapore Tourism Board: Heritage, history play critical role in tourism efforts

Edward Koh, Executive Director, Strategy and Planning, Research and Incentives, Singapore Tourism Board
Today Online 31 Oct 13;

We thank Mr John Chia for his suggestions in “Don’t let cultural tourism fade into the background” (Oct 14).

Our heritage and history have always played a critical role in helping locals and visitors appreciate our Singapore story. Hence, we have been working with industry partners and grassroots organisations to promote Singapore’s rich culture.

In the cultural precincts of Chinatown and Little India, for instance, we partner relevant grassroots organisations to organise and develop activities, tours and experiences that are sensitive to the respective areas.

There are excellent cultural tourism products like the Changi Museum War Trails, by The Changi Museum and tour company Journeys, which recently won the Best Travel Experience accolade at the Singapore Experience Awards.

We are constantly seeking new ideas. Enterprising firms or people with ideas on cultural tourism can tap our recently launched S$5 million Kickstart Fund (see http://www.stb.gov.sg).

As we strive towards Quality Tourism, a development model focused on creating authentic experiences for travellers, our unique heritage and contribution from locals will become more critical to our future success.

Hence, we welcome more conversations from people on ways to shape Singapore into a better place to visit.