Tourist arrivals to Singapore continue to drop

[johnny333]

singapore size is a big problem to promote tourism.

Don't agree with the size thing.

Penang & Malacca small but still attracts visitors. Bangkok is bigger but very affordable with lots to eat. see & do.

Problem with Spore is the PAP curse. PAP sacrificed tourism for higher rentals of offices, pub & malls.

 

[singveld]

Don't agree with the size thing.

Penang & Malacca small but still attracts visitors. Bangkok is bigger but very affordable with lots to eat. see & do.

Problem with Spore is the PAP curse. PAP sacrificed tourism for higher rentals of offices, pub & malls.

your spend a few days , you seen everything

not like nyc, tokyo after spending a few days, you just missing some place.

you go back home, save up and shiok another time.

size matters.

and when people say singapore is boring, i think they meant the people are boring. nothing STPB can do about it. they are stupid to come to singapore anyway, so their complaint are not valid.

 

[The_Latest_H]

Well, at least when it comes to shopping, it would help if the shopping malls in Orchard Road and in the heartlands weren't full of the same shops everywhere.

I mean, if some malls have different type of shops, small ones that offer good stuff on the cheap or on reasonable prices, at least tourists would know that they can come back for more shopping trips- even if the tourist attractions are sparse.

Since Singapore is not like that compared to Bangkok, HK, KL and Taipei, obviously once you see that Bossini is in every mall around the island, the tourists probably won't come back.

But if you're in Taipei or HK, and you see a jeans shop selling its own designed jeans, cannot be found elsewhere but that place and is reputable through the word of mouth, tourists will come back time and time again to buy jeans. They will even pay a lot of money to travel thousands of miles to go back and buy jeans from that stall or shop.

And besides like Bangkok, HK and Taipei is good for shopping because shopping is cheap. Singapore is however expensive: shoes that cost S$60 in Taipei, HK and BKK cost $100 in Singapore. Which tourist do you think will go to these other three places, rather than Singapore, to get a pair of Pumas or Adidas or Converse? Says it all, really.

 

[chupacabra]

What someone said here is correct. The rents here are too high for specialty shops. Sinkees are brand conscious. Offbeat places like sembawang, joo chiat and clarke quay tried to be different but failed.

The rental of shops have to come down to encourage people with different ideas to patronize them. It has been all along that tenants with deep pockets are the only ones that could afford the rent.

 

[Bigfuck]

What someone said here is correct. The rents here are too high for specialty shops. Sinkees are brand conscious. Offbeat places like sembawang, joo chiat and clarke quay tried to be different but failed.

The rental of shops have to come down to encourage people with different ideas to patronize them. It has been all along that tenants with deep pockets are the only ones that could afford the rent.

Where can? Small feudal lord cannot get plomoted. So must set S$10-30psf.
Can you imagine 15K for a 50sqm? Sell drugs for plofeet ah?

 

[kiwibird7]

The IRs are going to be two humongous WHITE elephants, jkust like the MIW.
A case of bad decision at a bad time by the world's HIGHEST paid.

All of S'pore's tourist attractions are NOT VALUE for money. So many of them have POOR business because they charge too high admission prices until finally they close down; TANG DYNASTY CITY, HAW PA VILLA, Sentosa ASIAN Village etc. Even the BirdPark, ZOO, Night Safari need to be supported by local funds (memberships from schools, corporations).

The usual run of the mill reply from the PAP would be, other countries charge similar or higher prices. That may be true when comparing against certain Western countries but their attractions are also better both in design and concept, not half baked measures found in S'pore attractions.

The S'pore ZOO is a copycat version of the San Diego Zoo. The underwater tunnel at Sentosa was built by NZers from Kelly Tarlton (Auckland, NZ). Even a medium size city in the Goldcoast has more attractions (Seaworld, Warner Studios Theme parks) that are more fun than any S'pore attractions.

What does the proposed IR have to offer? Super Cheap buffets like Las Vegas, Sexy & Scantily clad waitresses with voluptious hooters? Venetian Canals like Macau, Roman Columns, Sphinx etc like in Las Vegas?

Which tourist is going to pay more to see a cheap substandard imitation of what their country already has to offer? And tourists from 3rd world countries(Malaysia, Thailand etc) would find the stiff prices even more daunting.

Competing for the tourist dollar is tough. Half hearted measures are doomed to failure. If there is no determination, might as well not start the race for that elusive tourist dollar.

 

[tonychat]

Don't agree with the size thing.

Penang & Malacca small but still attracts visitors. Bangkok is bigger but very affordable with lots to eat. see & do.

Problem with Spore is the PAP curse. PAP sacrificed tourism for higher rentals of offices, pub & malls.

It is certainly not about size but the quality of the people and the place. boring means boring, There is no other excuse, Singapore Tourism board should do something about it, if they capable enough.

 

[johnny333]

size matters.

and when people say singapore is boring, i think they meant the people are boring. nothing STPB can do about it. they are stupid to come to singapore anyway, so their complaint are not valid.

Different strokes for different people lah.

Whenever I visit BKK, I re-visit many of the same places; MBK, Pantip, NANA,... Sometimes if got time, I'll explore something new :p

Problem with Spore is its damn expensive even to take a look. My Indo friend complained it cost so much just just to feed his family in Spore. He re-visited after many years away & was shocked at the increased costs.

In Spore after spending so much on hotels, food, transport, tourists got little leftover of budget. Compared to Malacca, Penang, Bkk where its cheep, cheep, got more $$$ to spend.

Even though I found NYC interesting, I'll not re-visit because its expensive, its cheaper to visit places like San Fransisco or Paris.

 

[johnny333]

It is certainly not about size but the quality of the people and the place. boring means boring, There is no other excuse, Singapore Tourism board should do something about it, if they capable enough.

Singapore is very artifricial, we import everything; branded goods, foreign workers, ideas for our attraction. AND we are charging a premium$$$ :p

Spore gov't too intrusive, demolish this, demolish that until everything is the same.

 

[kiwibird7]

Singapore is very artifricial, we import everything; branded goods, foreign workers, ideas for our attraction. AND we are charging a premium$$$ :p

Spore gov't too intrusive, demolish this, demolish that until everything is the same.

The HAW PAR VILLA really charged a PREMIUM$$$ that caused the greedy operator to close down due to very poor patronage.

Whenever the govt or STPB has a hand in anything eg Malay Village, revamped Chinatown etc it sort of kills off the golden goose. The MIDAS TOUCH they do NOT HAVE.

Perhaps the problems has to do with:
1. The education system where rote book learning and model answers translates into a robotic penchant to be a copycat of other countries.

2. PURE insatiable GREED takes over to earn a fast buck by charging PREMIUM$$$ admission charges.

3. The inability to fathom what FUN really is due to a prematurely terminated childhood caused by early KIASU checkin to PRE-SCHOOL enrolments and incessant TUITIONS.

 

[myjohnson]

The most worrying thing about the latest figures is that for a statuary board known for coming up with highly improbable numbers in the past, to give up such depressing figures and if we add in a percentage to get around to the truth, that is numbing.

 

[singveld]

i seldom revisit

only good places


what is nice in SF?

 

[downgrader]

This is a good trend. Then Singapore wil become less crowded. I don't believe in economic growth without quality of life. Simple no-stress lifstyle is the best.

 

[johnny333]

The HAW PAR VILLA really charged a PREMIUM$$$ that caused the greedy operator to close down due to very poor patronage.

........

Perhaps the problems has to do with:
1. The education system where rote book learning and model answers translates into a robotic penchant to be a copycat of other countries.

2. PURE insatiable GREED takes over to earn a fast buck by charging PREMIUM$$$ admission charges.

3. The inability to fathom what FUN really is due to a prematurely terminated childhood caused by early KIASU checkin to PRE-SCHOOL enrolments and incessant TUITIONS.

Back when it was still free used to take many visitor there. Back then alot of Indo, Malaysian, European ... friends would visit Spore. Now very rare for anyone to visit Spore even though travelling got easier & cheaper.

I think problem started when PAP used $$$ as benchmark for success or failure. Something in PAP changed, the kiasu mentality of extracting every $$$ out of everyone is causing the current problems. They forgot about giving value to tourists & citizens. Tourist can choose to stay away & they are staying away. This is going on when our neighbours are getting better at attracting the tourists . They aren't wasting $$$ building expensive attractions but using what they already have.

How dangerously useless the PAP is can be seen when you look at the HK example, The Hongkies had a problem with service quality & they improved quickly when it impacted negatively on tourist numbers. PAP will hire foreign consultants then spend more $$$ on projects!

 

[johnny333]

i seldom revisit

only good places


what is nice in SF?

Must be getting old, travelling is not as exciting anymore as I've already visited US, Europe,.... a few times

Now travelling is more of taking a break from Spore then looking for new attractions.

SF is like Vancouver, its a pretty town. Less hectic, friendlier, less polluted, cheaper than NYC. Can walk all over SF since its safer than NYC.

Can rent a car & drive to surrounding area Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, .Have even visited Berkely, Stanford.

Driving around NYC is difficult & exp. Lots of hussle & bussle, It has its attractions but I like quieter places.

 

[kiwibird7]

How dangerously useless the PAP is can be seen when you look at the HK example, The Hongkies had a problem with service quality & they improved quickly when it impacted negatively on tourist numbers. PAP will hire foreign consultants then spend more $$$ on projects!

Firstly; Foreign Consultants/Advisers (usually the 3rd rate varieties if they are ANGMOHs offering advice to Asian Govts) are like UNIT TRUST fund managers, one often gets taken for a ride with the end result NOT what one has in mind. Eitherway, these consultants/advisers will get paid quite handsomely whatever the outcome of their 'advice'.

Secondly, when things don't turn out as expected (poor results) the typical MIW response would be to compare with countries that performed worse than S'pore to make themselves appear good. The PAP NEVER compares themselves against countries that performed better than them with far lower salaries for their Ministers or fewer resources etc.

 

[Bigfuck]

Firstly; Foreign Consultants/Advisers (usually the 3rd rate varieties if they are ANGMOHs offering advice to Asian Govts) are like UNIT TRUST fund managers, one often gets taken for a ride with the end result NOT what one has in mind. Eitherway, these consultants/advisers will get paid quite handsomely whatever the outcome of their 'advice'.

Old news. Problem is these fucked up ang moh advisers have terminally screwed the subway systems, so be prepared to see more failures in public transportation and also the power sector. Now they are getting fly by night shout shout consultants for the renewable and cogen sector. These fuckers know nothing and use 3rd rated indian equipment. Do not be surprised if explosions happened. But government pricks who screw up stay in office, because they are even more beholden to LKY if they get to keep jobs. LKY has problem getting first rated. One issue is everyone can see the cockup immediately. So automatic exposure. But this is pointless. Our people see it but cannot solve it. So they migrate. Thus braindrain since 1986. You know LKY is a fucker if CPF contribution reached 25% for employers in 1985. It is a 25% tax higher than use social security tax that is 12% of employer/employee contribution. U have a fucked up goondu feudal lord wannabe who always explains no choice. Yah fucked blains always no choice.

 

[johnny333]

Firstly; Foreign Consultants/Advisers (usually the 3rd rate varieties if they are ANGMOHs offering advice to Asian Govts) are like UNIT TRUST fund managers, one often gets taken for a ride with the end result NOT what one has in mind. Eitherway, these consultants/advisers will get paid quite handsomely whatever the outcome of their 'advice'.

.

There must be decent consultants out there?

Up to the PAP to choose the right consultants & whether to take their advise, right?. Advisors probably presented different options but Knowing the money minded PAP scholar types, they picked the ones best for $$$profit & own career :(

Bottomline is why is PAP involved in business enterprises
Isn't governing a full-time thing? PAP has a conflict of interest & Sporeans are finding out how costly it can be.

 

[Adidas]

do not have to worry too much.
we are only the only country that see the drop of tourists arrival.

 

[johnny333]

do not have to worry too much.
we are only the only country that see the drop of tourists arrival.

Was in KL & still see the crowds of tourists. They have more diverse tourists; angmo, middle eastern, Sporeans, etc

Spore must be experiencing more drastic drops. If you have less to spend you cut out the luxuries and Spore is a luxury. If you go to Jkt, BKK & KL you will find many of the same branded goods.

I also notice that the airlines now have more options that by-pass Spore e.g. Batam to KL, Bandung to KL, jkt to KL, etc