Tourism in Singapore - Case Study Example

Case Analysis report: Tourism in Singapore [Name] [Professor Name] [Course] [Date] Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Historical background 3 Present-day tourism in Singapore 5 Development principles 6 Destination sustainability assessment 8 Sustainable tourism in Sentosa Island 9 Consideration of different scales 9 Selective globalisation in Kampong Glam 11 Other highly globalised tourist attractions 11 Community response tourism development 11 Conclusion and Recommendations 12 References 13 Introduction Singapore is a sovereign city-state located in Southeast Asia in the Malay Peninsula with some 5.1 million people (as of 2010). The Asian nation is today highly urbanized contrasting the country’s image in the 1963 after its independence from Britain. Tourism management in Singapore has gone through dramatic changes over the decades (CLC 2013). The integration of a range of strategies and policies targeted at promoting tourism in the country has depended significantly on social and economic forces both locally and globally. A deeper insight into the issues concerning tourism development in Singapore calls for the need to review the background of the challenges since they correlate to specific socio-economic and political condition of the country. This report provides a historical analysis of the development of tourism in Singapore. Also examined include the key principles used to plan the city-state and tourism and how planning was informed by global forces. The extent to which Singapore is a sustainable urban destination is also discussed. Historical background Singapore’s tourism policies and strategies have principally corresponded to global forces that influence trends in economic development and tourism in addition to local factors including alterations in social conditions within the city-state. Singapore in the post-independence period (after 1965) witnessed a boom in tourism unlike in destinations around the globe, which was triggered further by infrastructural developments, since it fastened and denigrated the cost of tourism travel. As a consequence, tourism arrival was radically increased. During this period, tourism bore substantial economic returns even as the impact of the sector remained comparatively unrecognized. In the early 1970s, tourism was prioritized as a means of creating employment to the youths in the newly independent country as well as to promote the country’s economy and to restructure its industrial and urban infrastructure (Yeoh et al 2002). The creation of Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) indicated conscious policy efforts to acknowledge the significance of the tourism industry to the country’s economic planning agenda. All through the 1970s, strategies to promote the industry focused on development of ‘modern hotels and garden attractions’ as well as marketing the country as ‘Instant Asia’, or as a country that was rich in Asian culture. Towards the mid-1980s, shifts were witnessed in the tourism management and in the economic sectors. Changes in policies were partially stimulated by the impacts of the previous policies as well as partially by the changes in the socio-economic sphere in the country as well as globally. An important impetus for the change in the policies was the global economic recession in 1985. Indeed, the initial signs of the recession arose as early as 1982 when the country observed the lowest tourist arrival rate at 4.5 percent. In 1983, the tourist arrival plummeted to around -3.5 percent, becoming the first time ever a negative was recorded. In the subsequent years toward the mid-1980s, the arrival rate became positive yet again although the growth was rather lethargic. This called for policies to reconfigure how the industry could be stimulated (Yeoh et al 2002). A host of new policies were enacted in the Tourism Product Development Plan, which devoted some US$223 million to the redevelopment of ethnic communities such as ‘Little India,’ ‘China Town’ and ‘Kampong Glam’ as well as historical sites such as Singapore River and Bugis Street. In 1993, the STPB released a masterplan dubbed ‘The Strategic Plan for Growth,’ designed to assess the gains since the formation of Tourism Product Development Plan. Towards the 21st century, more changes were effected in the regional politico and economic climate and change in customer preferences calling for a ‘soft’ approach to tourism management. Tourism 21 recommended regionalization to promote the development of the future tourism and the city-state as an important business centre and tourism hub. It aimed to promote a mix of culture, people and history from the Asian region and globally (Yeoh et al 2002). Whereas Singapore was marketed as ‘Instant Asia’, its changing landscape from a comparatively under developed country in the 1960s to an ambitions metropolis in the 2000s gave a new image to tourists. Related to this was how tourists began to perceive Singapore with its modern-day infrastructure. Hence, it was promoted as ‘New Asia Singapore,’ suggesting a progressive tourism business centre and hub. STPB was later renamed to Singapore Tourist Board (STB) in the 1990s to reflect Singapore’s changing face. Present-day tourism in Singapore The role of STB majorly included importing cultures from abroad, hence heralding the influx of Western concepts such as Planet Hollywood, Tony Roma’s and Starbucks. The 2000s saw the tourism industry performance decline due to the impacts of SARS (in 2003) and the Global Financial Crisis (2009-2009). The decade also saw hosting of Formula One Singapore Grand Prix and the creation of two integrated resorts boosting visitor arrivals. According to STB (2012), tourism reached an all-time high in 2012 with the industry witnessing S$23 billion and visitor arrival of around 14.4 million. Indeed, annual growth rate was witnessed between 2002 and 2012 (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Tourism growth trend in Singapore 2002-2012 (STB 2012). Today, Singapore’s tourism sector supports nearly 160,000 employments and contributes nearly 4 percent to the country’s gross domestic product. Tourism in Singapore has witnessed spectacular growth since the 1960s. In 1964, the city-state witnessed some 91,000 visitor arrivals because of political unrest and race riots. In 2010, the city state recorded over 11.6 million arrivals (Fig. 2) (STB 2012; Tantow 2009). Tourism development in the nation is viewed by many scholars as a ‘quantitative success story.’ Further, the steady growth in tourism is seen as outstanding across Asia compared to neighbours such as Indonesia, where tourism has stagnated at about 5 million between 1999 and 2009 (Tantow 2009). Figure 2: trends in tourisms in Singapore Development principles Even as the nation’s tourism is strategically positioned to gain from the thriving Asian economy, questions have been raised over the sustainability of the industry’s recent development trajectories because of environmental constraints and keenness to promote the city-state’s metropolis. Singapore integrated its tourism agenda within the perspective of modernist theorists, by viewing its society through a set of development stages that are the same as those witnessed in many developed western nations such as Britain. Hence, development was viewed to be originating from comparatively developed and concepts such as growth poles, backwash effects and cumulative causation that guided ideas, with much emphasis placed on entrepreneurship and innovation. Hence the role of the Singaporean government to promote development through a trickledown effect was evidence. For instance, its strategy of building a major resort such as Sentosa Island in the view that benefits would accrue to a broader area shows an example of such a perspective. It can also be viewed as in the development of western-styled hotels in the island with the view of catalyzing economic development (Wahab and Pigram 1997) Hence, Singapore has made efforts the principles of sustainability in development of the city-state as a tourist destination (STB 2012). Essentially, sustainable development refers to development that meets the needs of the present day generation without compromising on the needs of the future generations (Lai, LI and Feng 2006). An area of interest is the need for the government of Singapore to promote tourism by development of the city-state into a metropolis by addressing the tensions created by environmental problems and economic development (Loykie 2007). With this regard, sustainable development has underpinned the concept of sustainable tourism in Singapore. In Singapore, sustainable tourism has often been portrayed as a value-ridden philosophical approach and not as a particular form of ecotourism and community tourism. In which case, even as STB has focused on mass tourism, it has focused on ensuring that the local cultures and the environment are not degraded but considered in the sustainable development of the city-state through ‘Quality Tourism’. STB’s approaches to ‘Quality Tourism’ have been in four areas: improving destination attractiveness, using a yield-driven marketing approach, improving the competiveness of the industry and sustaining local engagements (STB 2012). This approach has been integrated in the development of Sentosa Island, Jurong Lake District as well as other attraction sites. Destination sustainability assessment To attain efficiency and balance while confronting the intricacy in the interaction between manmade and natural system, Singapore has adopted the integrated design concept to link engineering design and conventional planning. This signifies the principles of sustainability where building designs, infrastructure and natural systems correlate with each other allowing one system to be leveraged to improve the performance of the other. In its 2008 draft master plan, Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) hailed Jurong Lake District as idyllic for such redevelopment, in developing the district to be a unique destination for leisure and business. In fact, the positive outcomes to the economy and environment are attributable to tourism strategy and policy – flexibility. Indeed, the level of tourism has changed from the simpler concept of “Singapore-Instant Asia’ to the more advanced “Singapore as a tourism gateway, capital and hub. The modern-day tourism strategy is in line with the contingency theories that promote open system approach that recognises that an effective way to promote tourism depends on the nature of environment. Evidently, the environment that confronts Singapore has changed drastically since the 1960s (Yeoh et al 2002). This report argues that whether the transformation can be termed as globalisation or credited to the coming of the new millennium, the actual fact is that tourism planners have over the years developed effective policies that have managed to mobilise internal resources while at the same time overcoming resource and environmental constraints (Wang and Ap 2013). Because of the rapidly changing and turbulent environment that confronts tourism in the city-state, it is certain that Singapore’s tourism policy has showed a high degree of flexibility, which has augured well with the increasingly interconnected and ever-changing competitive world. The city-state’s advanced infrastructures as well as the ‘clean and green’ environment have indeed contributed the rise in tourist arrivals (See Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Sustainable tourism in Sentosa Island Worthy to note is STB’s promotion of sustainable development in major tourist destinations such Sentosa island resort that has been awarded severally by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) for its sustainable tourism programs by integrating socio-cultural, economic and environmental benefits in addition to stakeholder engagement. Indeed, despite the landmark development and high rate of visitorship in the island over the years, conscious efforts have been made to sustain its rich heritage. Indeed, the Sentosa Island’s ecological gains are indicated by its meticulous land planning and use. In terms of heritage, former monorail stations and colonial buildings have been sustained and further improved through innovative designs for recreational and commercial use (CLC 2013). Measures have also been taken to minimize vehicular traffic in the area in order to reduce carbon emissions and noise. This has preserved the island’s tranquility. Today, some 50 percent of the island is covered with vegetation while 40 percent of the island harbors development. Consideration of different scales Some theorists have summed up Singapore’s policymaking style as ‘selective globalisation’, or the conscious effort to embrace certain aspects of globalisation in and deject others (Amaldas 2009). For instance, while the government has stimulated economic globalisation by synchronising domestic tourism policies with international standards, it has also strove to vehemently protect Asian conservative cultures. Indeed, the prevalent oscillation between sustaining local cultures and being open to culture from abroad have given rise to the name “Singapore Paradox.’ In particular, the city-state enjoys a status as a major globalised country in the world with regard to global finance, migration and telecommunications and socio-politico where specific civil liberties are held back in preference to multi-religious and multi-ethnic norms (Amaldas 2009). This report supports the view that Singapore’s practice of selective globalisation has showed the need to sustain global connectedness in the view ensuring national survival while at the same time preserving certain concepts of tradition and conservatism to protect dominant interests. Selective globalisation was felt most in 2005 when the city-state served as a destination for global events such as Asia-Middle East Dialogues, Shangri-La Dialogue and, International Olympics Committee meeting among many other events (Amaldas 2009). The concept of globalisation has often been reduced to the issue of whether the global economy’s neoliberal order would comprise an opportunity for growth or be detrimental to tourism destinations. Despite the take on the question, this report takes the positivist perspective that considers heritage as a valuable cultural economy asset that aims to maximise revenues from tourism (Simpson and Wall 1999).Towards this end, it can be argued that globalisation has shaped the representation of heritage from Singapore’s economic development as well as through the continual interactions of the Singaporeans and the visitors. Indeed, take on the global-local nexus offer considerable room to discuss the cultural effects of globalisation on Singapore’s tourism sector (Yeoh et al 2002). Singapore’s Kampong Glam offers an example of interconnectedness between tourism and post-colonial nation building. Selective globalisation in Kampong Glam Selective Globalisation has been witnessed in major tourism destinations or heritage districts such as Kampong Glam. Indeed, with the increasingly high number of tourists visiting the city-state, tourism has increasing influenced the lives of Singaporeans in the heritage district of Kampong Glam. Expansion of heritage attraction was integrated with a new attitude towards heritage that compared to cultural qualities in Kampong Glam. In 2004, cultural policymakers started to emphasise the tradition of interconnectedness in the city-state as a cosmopolitan maritime to promote the global city status and its ambitions to become the world’s leading tourism capital. Consequently, STB placed emphasis on promoting the heritage district’s port and the homestead of Bugis, Arab Traders, Malay and Javanese with focus on integrating foreign cultures. Today, demographics shifts are evident. Kampong Glam has witnessed a change since the 1960s from being multiracial to cosmopolitan (STB 2012). Other highly globalised tourist attractions Other thriving tourist sites include Orchard Road district that is highly globalised to attract international business persons. Globalisation is also evident in animal attractions, where animals from across the world feature. For instance, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo allow visitors to explore American, African and Asian habitats at night. Further, Jurong Bird refers to a zoological garden that contains different species of birds collected globally. Other attractions that integrate Western concepts include the integrated resorts that house casinos such as Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands (STB 2012). Community response tourism development While residents may perceive these developments as positive in economic terms, they have also been awakened by the issues relating to global economy such as cultural differences. Indeed, Singaporeans have exhibited mixed emotions towards tourism in view of the positive and the negative effects (Foley, McPherson and Matheson 2006). For instance, since the sector supplies up to 160,000 jobs, proponents of this perspective have welcomed tourism. On the other hand, opposition to the sector is evident with regard to the concepts of Confucianism, or belief in restoring local cultures. Of particular concern has been that tourism has led to degradation of local cultures and promoted Western cultures such as pornography. Indeed, this sentiment has been largely expressed in the religious quarters, among the Buddhist and Muslims. Communities have also tended to associate the tourism sector, particularly the gaming industry, to crime, and hence feel less comfortable with tourism (Harril et al 2010). Conclusion and Recommendations The integration of a range of strategies and policies targeted at promoting tourism in the country has depended significantly on social and economic forces both locally and globally. Since Singapore has finite natural resources, space and water supplies, the government of Singapore has had to promote sustainable development in its tourism planning efforts. However, Singapore has to promote its city-state as a ‘Global City of Arts’ through promoting the need to cultivate arts and cultural software (such as human resources and talents) rather than hardware development infrastructure) that has been prevalent since the 1960s. Further, it should explore the prospective of exporting Singapore-initiated entertainment events globally. Singapore also needs to place emphasis on local peculiarities in the arts industry that may hamper Singapore’s ambition to be a global arts club. Additionally, there is a need to relax the local rules and regulations to that govern entertainment events along with the local audience’s changing mind-set. 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