10/06/2009 11:30 PM | By Jumana Al Tamimi, Associate Editor
Singapore: When Abdul Rahman Al Janahi was planning to take one of his family members for medical treatment abroad, many recommended one destination: Singapore.
The East Asian country has been attracting increasing numbers of visitors from the Middle East, mainly the Gulf region, who are seeking either business opportunities, medical treatment or simply leisure and shopping.
"Based on its reputation for medical treatment, everybody from friends to medical doctors advised us to go to Singapore," Janahi, a UAE national, told Gulf News. "Frankly, the law and order there is very respected. Their medical services are also of a good quality," he said.
Singapore, which uses its political stability and low crime rates among the main factors to attract visitors, has succeeded in adding its name on the list of top financial and commercial hubs of the world.
Now, the cosmopolitan 49-year-old city state is working on promoting itself as a tourist destination in the potential markets mainly the Middle East, Russia and Vietnam, Singaporean officials say.
According to official figures, Singapore receives 400,000 people seeking medical treatment every year. At the same time, it is pouring investments in tourism products, such as multi-billion-dollar shopping districts, including the famous shopping area of Orchard Road, and is opening new shopping malls and hotels.
Apart from priding itself of having the world's largest observation wheel - the Singapore $280-million (Dh734 million) "Singapore flyer", work continues round the clock on the adjacent Sentosa Island to build many tourist projects, including a casino.
The cost of establishing the resort, World at Sentosa, scheduled to open in 2010, is expected to reach more than S$6 billion. The island was awarded the "most popular large attraction" at the Asian attractions awards.
At the same time, mega projects are coupled with the country's plans to host some international gatherings, such as the recent Formula One event and the Youth Olympics next year.
"We see the prospects for tourism are still very good because of the range of projects being carried out," Mudh Rostam Bin Umar, Director of Communications at the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), told a group of visiting journalists from the Middle East.
STB is an economic agency for tourism with a mission to make tourism a key driver of economic growth by marketing the country as a "must-visit" destination.
So far, other Asian destination such as Thailand and Malaysia have been more popular among people of Middle East as family and honeymoon destinations.
Umar believes the region offers a "complementary" experience for the visitor saying there are packages which include Singapore and both Malaysia and Indonesia.
Singapore realizes the difficulty of being one destination for all types of tourists. In terms of priority, therefore, officials in Singapore say leisure and business tourism come at the top followed by heath care and education.
The government also focuses on the country's education sector, which highlights the potential of attracting students.
A total of 44,080 Middle East-based travellers have visited Singapore in the first five months of 2009, an eight per cent increase over 2008, official figures show.
While the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran are the strongest growth markets, visitors from Kuwait have also seen an increase thanks to new flights to Singapore. The top five markets contributing visitors to Singapore are Indonesia, India, Australia, Malaysia and China. They accounted for more than half of the arrivals in Singapore in the first five months of this year.
British and American travellers were ranked eight and 10 respectively in terms of numbers. Also, "they are important because they are business visitors or bring business activities", Umar noted.
Global fears from H1N1 have been cited as a reason behind a decline of visitor arrivals from both China and Japan in the first months of 2009.
Avenues: Drive to boost GDP share
Tourism is still not among the top 10 income sources for Singapore.
Other important sectors, such as trade and banking services, are the backbone of the economy. But Singapore is planning to increase the share of tourism in its economy.
Officials hope to attract nearly 17 million tourists annually by 2015, triple the turnover and double its share in the GDP. Until then, the country is trying other avenues to receive more visitors.
One of the big opportunities, which is also a challenge, is hosting the 2010 Youth Olympic Games - the biggest global event to be hosted by Singapore. Nearly 5,000 athletes aged 14-18 years and officials from the 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), along with an estimated 800 media representatives will take part in the 26-sport competitions on August 14-26 next year.
The event is expected to attract between 25,000 and 35,000 visitors, the officials said. Singapore eagerly wanted to host the event that is estimated to cost nearly $ 75 million (Dh275).
"The high cost is what Singapore will get from the Olympics," said Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports & Ministry of Transport).
"Olympics is by itself a brand," Luck added enthusiastically. "It [Olympics] brings up the level of excitement of the city," he told a group of reporters from several Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
Furthermore, Formula One which was held last month was expected to attract 100,000 spectators, nearly 40 per cent of them tourists, according to official figures.
The event was expected to generate $168 million for the country, which prides itself as combining many Asian backgrounds in one pot, including Chinese and Malay..
