India’s growing significance is evident in the fact that the Singapore Tourism Board has already made three announcements in the first three days of April regarding collaborating with Indian businesses.
Singapore is attempting to draw travelers from India. A number of agreements with Indian businesses have been announced by the Singapore Tourism Board; the most recent arrangement was made with the fintech company PhonePe on Wednesday.
Through the partnership, visitors from India will be able to make purchases in Singapore by just scanning a QR code while they are there.India is among the top five tourist destinations in Singapore and has one of the quickest rates of growth.In 2023, 1.1 million Indian tourists visited the city-state. Although that’s still less than the 1.4 million that it was in 2019, the Singapore Tourism Board hopes to surpass 90–95% of its pre-pandemic figures this year.
The board Intends to expedite the Indian tourist visa application procedure in order to support this expansion. Additionally, Singapore has increased the connection between the two nations by starting direct flights from 17 cities in India.In order to serve both leisure and business travelers, Singapore is also expanding its infrastructure, with plans to add 9,000 more hotel rooms to its current 72,000.Given the expanding trade, Poh Chi Chuan, executive director of exhibitions and conferences at the Singapore Tourism Board, stressed that Singapore is pursuing business visitors in addition to Indian tourists.
Collaboration with MakeMyTrip
The PhonePe alliance was announced just one day after the tourism board partnered with MakeMyTrip, an Indian online travel operator.The goal of the combined activations and marketing between MakeMyTrip and the Singapore Tourism Board is to increase inbound travel to Singapore.The tourist board Intends to design vacation packages specifically for Indian customers using MakeMyTrip’s industry knowledge.Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO of MakeMyTrip, stated that Singapore rose from fifth place in 2022 to one of the top three sought-after international destinations on the platform last year.
Observing Indian weddings
The Singapore Tourism Board stated on Monday that it will be working with designer Rahul Mishra to showcase what Singapore has to offer Indian weddings. With the help of an artisanally selected collection, the cooperation hopes to give Indians a better understanding of the island metropolis.Speaking about this partnership, Markus Tan, regional director of the Singapore Tourism Board for India, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa, said that Indians place a high value on marriages and are getting pickier about providing unique and memorable experiences for their guests.In a previous story, Skift discussed how Indian weddings redefine opulence.
Regarding the growing trend of destination weddings, research has mentioned how India’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals are being targeted by countries such as Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and European hotspots.
The Singapore Tourism Board collaborated with Bollywood actress Ananya Panday in December to produce a four-episode vlog series, capitalizing on the influence of Indian celebrities. This will show off a “new, exciting, and fun side of Singapore,” according to the tourism board.