Australia and Singapore blaze new trails in recovery

FIRST it was “travel for love”, said Tourism Australia’s Brent Anderson, those travelling from the region down under to visit families and friends, then it was travellers looking for a different kind of love – that of immersive experiences, nature and wildlife.

That was how the regional general manager, South & South-east Asia & Middle East, for Tourism Australia described the progress of inbound travel to the continent since it opened its border to vaccinated international tourists on February 21.

Speaking at the “Asia Arising” event, organised by WiT and Travel Weekly Asia, Anderson said the opening of Singapore was critical to Australia, it being a key connecting hub – 13% of international visitors to Australia transited through Singapore in 2019.

Said Anderson, “More international visitors come through Changi Airport on their way to Australia than any other destination. So it’s critical for us to get those air links up and running and for when the northern hemisphere starts travelling as well – plus, we’re right next door so it’s given us a big advantage there.”

Sharing data on forward bookings, he said, “We’ve hit over 200% of pre- Covid 2019 levels and the last two weeks have also been above 200%. So that pent-up demand that we’re all seeing is really starting to come but I think getting that confidence, simplifying procedures, having consumers sharing word of mouth has really helped drive that for us.

“In Indonesia, we’re looking at the figures for Jakarta because Bali is very much an outbound for Australia, it’s moving in the right direction. Malaysia is already above 70% of Covid levels for the same week.”

Singapore, meanwhile, is expecting a strong April following the more relaxed Vaccinated Travel Framework kicking in at the start of the month and, from April 26, all testing requirements have been removed.

Juliana Kua, assistant chief executive, International Group, for Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said that since Singapore’s reopening to short-term visitors from last September it has received over half a million visitors. “Of course, compared to pre-Covid it might not seem like large numbers, but compared to Covid numbers it was very, very encouraging.”

And she added, “We haven’t seen the full numbers yet for April, but we’re hearing good anecdotal feedback about growth. Visitors  are  coming back, so fingers crossed we will be seeing even better numbers in the near future.”

Singapore Tourism Board’s Juliana Kua (centre) and Tourism Australia’s Brent Anderson (right) in conversation with Eric Gnock Fah, Klook’s COO & co-founder.

Both executives noted changes in traveller trends and preferences. Anderson said, “Throughout the pandemic we saw a trend for really immersive experiences – just nature and wildlife, something we’ve always been very strong in.”

Travellers also want more diversity in multiple destinations, he said. “People want to go and pick up the signature things but add on a bit more.”

And they are staying longer. “Singaporeans used to average about eight days, but we’re seeing 10 to 14 as the average now because people have pent-up leave, pent-up savings. And it’s really about authentic and there’s much bigger awareness of sustainability as well. Am I traveling for good? Whether or not it’s an actual motivator for destination choice … that’s what that future of demand research is telling us.”

Giving a nod to longer stays, Kua said business traffic was also back with a lot of it regional, and “this will come back as long as things become simpler and tests are removed”.

“One key thing we all need to do is really to simplify travel protocols. At the beginning we thought maybe people will still travel if there are still tests as long as there’s no quarantine, but now we’re seeing it’s not just sufficient to not have quarantine, you need to have simplified protocols, you need to have no tests as possible.”

On the preference for deeper experiences, Kua said the training Singapore stakeholders has had in catering to “the most demanding customers, the local Singaporeans”, will prepare them well to “really dig deep and create all kinds of new experiences”.

She shared news of a new platform called Kindred Journeys, a food experience platform where people are able to go behind the scenes of, for example, a Michelin restaurant or see how BBQ pork is made. “That’s just one example of the kind of deeper experiences that people are looking for, and I think Singapore is well poised to be able to ride on that.”

Wellness is another trend the STB is betting on and in June, it will launch its first Wellness Festival. “The whole concept of physical and mental wellness is something that has come to the fore during Covid. In Singapore we are going all out on this trend,” she said.

Singapore Tourism Board will launch its first Wellness Festival in June. (Image credit: Kaylee Garrett on Unsplash)

Both destinations are also dialling up on their sustainability initiatives and offerings. Anderson said it starts with consumer demand and tourism has always been a driver on “how to make a beautiful place economically viable” based on sustainable principles, environmental and cultural.

“You create from consumer demand – you fill it with products meeting those guidelines. I fundamentally got into tourism because it was a way of protecting natural areas and having an economic benefit, so you could justify that. Most small operators just started up because that sunset is really beautiful over there, and I reckon people will pay to see it.”

He added, “Our indigenous populations have started really marketing themselves and telling their story, and this is the longest surviving culture of about  60,000 years – our First Nations Australians (Indigenous Australians).”

Singapore, meanwhile, has developed the Singapore Green Plan 2030 – a nation-wide movement to advance the city’s agenda on sustainable development. “It’s something that we have to do, not only as a country, but also because we do see that there is consumer demand coming up,” said Kua.

Then there is the Hotel Sustainability Roadmap, drawn up jointly by the STB and Singapore Hotel Association, which sets two targets – 60% of hotel room stock to attain internationally-recognised hotel sustainability certification by 2025 and for hotels in Singapore to commence tracking of emissions by 2023 and reduce emissions by 2030, with a view to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Said Kua, “Aside from the hotel sector, we’re also working with other parts of our industry. Several of our big tourism players have come on board and set very clear goals, one of which is Wildlife Reserves that wants to be carbon neutral in a few years’ time. Even  our food sector and our other stakeholders are aiming to be sustainable. There’s a lot of discussion and commitment, to want to be more sustainable, which will be good for us as a destination and as a country.”

* Watch the full panel conversation here.

• Featured image credit: Alessandro Biascioli/Getty Images