STB to spend S$700 million over five years to court tourists

THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will be getting S$700 million (US$520 million) to support its destination promotion activities over the next five years, and a part of it will be channelled into the Business Events in Singapore (BEiS) fund to provide organisers, corporations and associations greater support for their events.

The announcement was made at the Tourism Industry Conference earlier this week by S Iswaran, Singapore’s minister for trade and industry.

However, the exact amount of funding for BEiS has yet to be determined. STB assistant chief executive, Yap Chin Siang, said “detailed perimeters are still being worked through”.
What is known at this stage, according to STB chief executive Lionel Yeo, is that the enhanced funding will enable the bureau to support business development initiatives that are entirely industry driven.

Yeo said: “This will allow us to support three or more business entities coming together to collaborate and undertake business development initiatives. For example, a MICE venue, a DMC and a cluster of hotels can now be supported in their joint effort to go after an incentive group or large-scale business event.”

BEiS will also be used to support associations in their pre-bidding activities.

Yeo said: “We recognise that associations need to start their lobbying earlier to increase their chances of successfully bidding for events.”

STB assistant chief executive, Yap Chin Siang, added: “(For instance), we can support them five years in advance by flying local association members to relevant global business events prior to bidding. This will put them on a much more competitive footing so they can secure world-class exhibitions and conferences.”

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