THE Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) strategy of "quality over quantity" has led to a loss of focus in aggressively growing the number of tourists coming here ("Tourist arrivals fall 3.1%; spending stable"; Feb 12 and "Up the game as tourist numbers fall"; April 30).
We are situated near countries such as India, China and Vietnam, which have rapidly growing middle classes with a high desire for travel.
The outbound tourist numbers from China and India are expected to show double-digit growth to reach 200 million and 50 million, respectively, by 2020
("Chinese travellers' numbers set to explode"; Jan 21, 2014 and "More Indians taking holidays abroad"; May 9, 2004).
Singapore has much room for high growth in the years to come, but it will not come easy, as places such as Dubai, South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong go all out to aggressively woo this pool of tourists.
There seems to be some misplaced fear that Singapore will be deluged with "low-quality tourists" who do not spend much but put pressure on the already overburdened infrastructure.
How valid is this argument?
Singapore is well known as one of the most expensive destinations in Asia, so we need not fear an onslaught of backpackers and budget tourists.
As for infrastructure, Singapore has plenty of "tourist-starved" retail malls along Orchard Road that would welcome tourists of all stripes.
There is also an abundance of hotels of all types.
Tourists also do not travel during peak hours and are unlikely to overburden our transport system.
Singapore needs both quality and quantity of tourists.
A large middle-class family of tourists may not dine at Michelin-starred restaurants and gamble at Marina Bay Sands, but will do enough to stimulate the economy by occupying budget hotel rooms, eating at restaurants, shopping and visiting our tourist sites.
As locals increasingly allocate their disposable income to travel, Singapore has no choice but to replace this deficit with tourist spending.
The STB needs an aggressive and revamped strategy to get back on the growth trajectory.
A first step would be to get rid of the dull and uninspiring "Your Singapore" branding and replace it with something more exciting.
Bobby Jayaraman
