Wanted: Dance partners for Singapore. Apply to: Keith Tan, chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board.
The STB boss says Singapore could announce within weeks new partners for travel bubbles, following the agreement to launch a daily flight ‘bubble’ between Hong Kong and the Lion City.
“I’m confident Singapore-Hong Kong will not be the last travel bubble,” Tan said, speaking during a recent Destination Insight webinar hosted by PATA.
While Singapore has been discussing travel bubbles with several countries, future agreements required the participation of both countries involved in the ‘bubble’.
“I like to dance but I need a dance partner as well,” he said.
The STB boss said it was important that visitors coming to Singapore were not faced with a sterile experience due to Covid-10 restrictions “but at the same time they are confident of being in a safe environment”.
For bubbles to be successful, Tan urged visitors to stick to the city’s pandemic prevention measures, such as wearing masks and being restricted to tables of five at restaurants.
He said early indications from the response to the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble are encouraging. “There’s pent-up demand from both sides with flight searches up 700% since the announcement,” he said.
If there was to be a Covid case involving an international visitor, he said Singapore health authorities are confident of being able to ring-fence the outbreak with rapid contact tracing and isolation.
Speaking at the PATA webinar, Jason Loe, co-founder of Singapore tour start-up Tribe said his team has used the Covid downturn to fine-tune products for the domestic market. He said the response from the public had been “a pleasant surprise” especially from local families.
“The magic lies in rewriting the Singapore script," said Loe.