Singapore

Pope Francis arrived in Singapore for a 3-day state visit on 11 Sep as part of his Asia tour, the first pontiff visit to Singapore since 1986

50,000 people gathered at the National Stadium to witness papal mass by the Pope

Singapore Tourism Board and WebBeds invited eight of WebBeds’ highest-producing wholesale product managers from Australia and New Zealand for a 5-day fam trip to Singapore. From Jan-Jul 2024, Singapore welcomed 663,970 Australians, +8.6% YoY, and 90,270 New Zealand tourists, +19.8% YoY

Singapore has not recorded any significant increase in the number of Chinese visitors arrested since the implementation of visa-free travel between both countries. The percentage of Chinese tourists arrested in 2024 is lower than in 2023. Singapore Tourism Board said the country recorded 2.2 million Chinese visitors YTD

A survey by recruitment firm ManpowerGroup said 46% of companies are planning to increase their staff, while 36% plan to maintain their staff, and 17% expect to have fewer staff. The firm surveyed 525 Singapore employers in Jul about their hiring plans from Oct-Dec 2024

Singapore will allow its casinos to conduct cashless gaming under changes made to the Casino Control Act. The use of cryptocurrencies will not be allowed under the amendments. The power to approve the main shareholders of casino operators has been transferred from the Gambling Regulatory Authority (GRA) to the Home Affairs Minister

Singapore passed the Casino Control (Amendment) Bill on 10 Sep. During the second reading of the bill in the Parliament, The Minister of State for Home Affairs said casino-related crime remains low in Singapore. In 2023, 137 criminal cases were reported at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, only 0.2% of all crimes reported in 2023

The National Heritage Board (NHB) will organise a 3-day festival in Clementi Town Centre, to mark the start of the second Heritage Activation Node. The festival will feature cultural performances, guided tours, a skating workshop, and other activities. NHB’s Heritage Activation Node initiative aims to involve communities in celebrating the heritage of Singapore’s neighbourhoods and organising their own heritage programmes

Health Minister said mpox will likely become a “troublesome virus” which can be managed without disrupting people’s daily lives, during a parliamentary question time on the government’s response against the epidemic. He said while there are measures such as declaration of mpox symptoms, temperature and visual screening ant border the “cases may not be picked up at the borders” due to a 21-day incubation period

Home Affairs Minister said about 2,500 visitors each month are refused entry to Singapore for various reasons. Members of Parliament asked about Singapore’s border security measures after a banned Bangladeshi preacher entered the country using a different name. The Minister said about 30 visitors with legitimate passports but with a different identity from ICA’s records were detected and refused entry every month since 2022

The National Parks Board (NParks) has reopened Chinese and Japanese gardens in Taman Jurong after rebuilding works over the past 5 years. This includes a multipurpose hall which can accommodate 1,000 people

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and GD World Cruises, an ICE Holidays brand, will collaborate to offer more convenient and diverse travel options for visitors from Malaysia through exclusive fly-cruise-stay packages and selected cruise routes

Singapore Tourism Board said the country recorded 1.54 million tourists in Aug, +17.3% YoY. China tops the arrival with 400,000 visitors, followed by Indonesia, India, Australia, and Japan. From Jan-Aug 2024, Singapore recorded 13 million visitors, which is estimated to reach 15 to 16 million tourists by year-end

The Mid-Autumn Festival will be held at the Gardens By the Bay from 4-22 Sep with lantern displays, and cultural performances

Sentosa halted all water activities on 1 Sep after a shark sighting at Palawan Beach and the activities resumed from 9am on 2 Sep after a drone inspections cleared of any further shark sightings

Singapore will house a Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre for Vegetation Fire and Smoke Pollution Forecasts to forecast transboundary haze in Southeast Asia. This is an initiative by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). Singapore already houses the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), to forecast weather and climate-related issues in ASEAN

Klook has launched its ‘Money Can’t Buy Experiences’ campaign to offer free trips and experiences in celebration of its 10th anniversary. Users can register for their selected experience until 31 Oct

Klook Protect, Klook’s travel insurance division, conducted the Travel Troubles Beyond Lost Luggage 2024 survey, sampling 2,500 respondents in Feb 2024 across Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and South Korea. The survey found that 21% of Millennials and Gen Z want less traditional travel insurance because these products follow an outdated approach. 34.1% of respondents want an enjoyable process to get travel insurance, 12.7% want a progressive provider, and 8.1% want a transformational provider

Singapore Tourism Board and Helloworld Travel Limited signed a 3-year MoU to promote Singapore as a preferred travel destination in Australia and New Zealand beginning from 1 Apr 2025. Under this MoU, both partners will jointly develop packages which include flights, accommodation, and experiences to attract visitors to Singapore to continue to drive the recovery momentum. STB will support Helloworld to upskill their agents by offering up-to-date information about Singapore’s tourism offerings through internal training and fam trips. Trade and consumer surveys will be carried out to understand the needs of travellers in Australia and New Zealand. Singapore recorded a strong recovery in the region with 664,000 Australians and 90,000 New Zealand tourists visiting from Jan-Jul 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels

The COMMUNE partners with EU Holidays to boost travel and shopping between Singapore and Johor. EU Holidays customers will receive exclusive offers and discounts at the COMMUNE. EU Holidays will launch exclusive bus tours from Singapore to Johor to the COMMUNE in Kulai

Singapore approves Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine Jynneos. The vaccine was approved to prevent smallpox and mpox in individuals above 18 years old

The Westin Singapore will partner with Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon for 2 more years as the Official Elite Hotel of the event. The three-day event will take place from 29 Nov-1 Dec, expected to welcome 50,000 participants globally

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said the visitors can expect heavy traffic at land checkpoints and additional waiting time from 30 Aug-8 Sep. On 8 Aug, more than 540,000 tourists crossed both checkpoints for the National Day weekend

Egypt’s Tourism Minister met with the Singaporean Ambassador to Egypt to discuss ways to improve cooperation and investment opportunities in tourism and archaeology. They discussed about boosting tourists from Singapore to Egypt, especially on the cultural and beach tourism in Egypt. The meeting also discussed potential participation in the ITB Asia tourism fair on Oct in Singapore. Singapore Ambassador highlighted the interest of Singaporean real estate developers to invest in Egypt to increase hotel capacity

Sands Expo & Convention Centre has launched Thrive at Marina Bay Sands in collaboration between Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and BEAMexperience to offer intellectual, mental and physical wellness experiences for event organisers and delegates

Skyscanner in partnership with OnePoll conducted a survey targeting adults who are planning or have already had their weddings in the Asia Pacific region to identify key considerations for weddings, especially destination weddings, honeymoons and pre-wedding events. The survey swamped 2,000 respondents respectively in Australia and India, and 1,000 respondents respectively from Singapore and South Korea. Over 68% of adults have either already had or are considering a destination wedding, with India leading the trend. 74% of Indian and 52% of Singaporean respondents have attended destination weddings before but 61% of South Koreans and 56% of Australian respondents have yet to attend a destination wedding. For the budget, around 30% are willing to invest 26%-50% more in a destination wedding compared to a traditional wedding in their hometown. For planning, one-third of the respondents use social media to assist with destination wedding planning, while over 20% of respondents from each market are considering using OTAs and a small percentage of respondents are using travel meta-search engines and AI-powered search tools. Respondents from India, Singapore, and South Korea prefer Asia and Australians prefer Oceania as their top choice

Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR)’s all 6 properties have been certified by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). The 6 hotels are Copthorne King’s Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore, M Hotel Singapore, M Social Singapore, Orchard Hotel Singapore and Studio M Singapore. The GSTC Criteria are structured around Sustainable Management, Socioeconomic Impacts, Cultural Impacts, and Environmental Impacts. MHR hotels have in-room technology where the electricity is activated only when it detects an occupant and aims to eliminate single-use plastics by 2050. MHR hotels are using glassware and paper-stem pens for their events and banquets

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said Singapore’s core inflation in Jul dropped to 2.5% YoY, driven by lower inflation across all broad core consumer price index (CPI) categories. Core inflation in Jun was recorded at 2.9%. The headline inflation was recorded at 2.4% in Jul, dropping by 0.3% MoM

The Singapore Sports Hub will organise the FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2024 (12-15 Sep), as well as concerts at the National Stadium by AR Rahman on 31 Aug, K-pop idols Stray Kids on 28 Sep, and multi-show concerts by Jay Chou and Andy Lau. Dua Lipa and Olivia Rodrigo will perform in Singapore as part of their first concerts in Asia. Singapore Sports Hub will organise the first Groovedriver Festival from 13-22 Sep as part of Grand Prix Season Singapore. OCBC Arena and OCBC Square will host a visit by Pope Francis, PedalFest Singapore 2024, Conan Gray on tour, LANY and Imagine Dragons concerts

Singapore Tourism Board (STB) suspended Sky Centre Air Travel’s travel agency licence over its failure to submit an audited statement of accounts starting from 22 Aug. The firm has 6 months to submit all documents

Tour buses entering the National University of Singapore (NUS) will have to register for limited daily slots from Jan 2025 to regulate visitor traffic on campus. This includes tour buses bringing visitors to museums on campus and for official programs and events. Tour buses ferrying people for registered tours by NUS student ambassadors will be exempt from registration

Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) MeetUp will be held for the first time at SFF from 6-8 Nov at Singapore Expo. The key topics for 2024 SFF include artificial intelligence and quantum computing in revolutionising financial services, and sustainable finance aims. This event is expected to host 15,000-20,000 meetings, where up to 1,600 people can meet simultaneously for 20 minutes at 800 tables

Singapore’s Best Customer Service survey 2024/2025 edition showed that Shangri-La was ranked at the top for best customer service providers for the second consecutive year. Other hotels in the top 10 include Parkroyal Collection at number 2, Marina Bay Sands and Mandarin Oriental at 7, and Marriott at number 10. Bird Paradise in Mandai Wildlife Reserve entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at number 4. All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airlines were ranked 6th and 8th, respectively

Fort Canning will host an experiential horror event from 25 Sep-3 Nov titled, “Underground: The Summoning”. This event is promoted as “Singapore’s largest immersive horror experience” and will be held fully in the historic Battlebox World War II underground bunker, under Fort Canning

The Transport Minister said the construction of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link connecting Johor Bahru and Singapore is on track to be completed by 1 Jan 2027 and is now 83% completed

Azgo, a travel cashback app, recorded over 250,000 users in China, Singapore, and Hong Kong since its launch in Feb 2024, and has generated $2.4 million USD in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), nearly +620% MoM

Singapore recorded 700,000 Filipino tourists in 2023, the 6th largest market and 84% of pre-pandemic levels. Singapore Tourism Board signed an MoU with Philippine Airlines (PAL) on 19 Aug to boost tourists from the Philippines which included seat sales and exclusive deals for PAL passengers. From Jan-Jun 2024, 390,000 Filipino tourists visited Singapore

NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB) and the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) signed an MoU at the NATAS Travel Fair 2024 to develop a Certified Travel Professional (CTP) program to help equip travel industry professionals with emerging skills. This is a first-of-its-kind program in Singapore’s travel industry and will be implemented under a 3-year strategic partnership. The CTP program will cater to professionals, travel consultants, experienced agents, career switchers, and those who want to specialise in travel management or eco-tourism. The CTP program will focus on Sales and Marketing Strategies, Sustainability, Emerging Technology, Wellness and Service Experience Excellence. The pilot program will begin in Mar 2025 with 10 students