To get free copies of brochures on Singapore, including Singapore Official Guide, please click HERE.

STB launches "Step Out Singapore" domestic tourism drive

May - Jun 2003

The Singapore Tourism Board said on 17 Sep 2003 that it will publicly blacklist errant retailers from October 2003, reintroducing a measure it took 10 years ago. 55 complaints have been received against a shop in the basement level of Lucky Plaza shopping Centre in Orchard Road this year. (Straits Times 19 Sep 2003 H10)

Taxi operator Comfort yesterday launched an automated booking service for tourists using HP Jornada personal assistants (PDAs) enabled with special software. About 40 per cent of Comfort's daily bookings are now done using automated means, up from 10 per cent in 2002. Its total daily bookings, from its more than 11,300 taxis making about 400,000 trips a day, number between 25,000 and 30,000. (Straits Times 17 Sep 2003 H8)

  Barricades went up on Monday at the back alley near popular Boat Quay pubs to block access to cars and delivery trucks at night following a meeting last Friday between the Boat Quay Business Association, the police and the Land Transport Authority.  The security measure at Boat Quay, a popular entertainment strip for Western tourists and expatriates, comes in the wake of the Oct 12 Bali bomb blasts. (Straits Times 25 Oct 2002) (H7) 

  US Ambassador to Singapore Franklin Lavin yesterday said that Singapore is as safe now as it was before the Oct 12 attack in Bali, which killed nearly 200 people. Mr Lavin said America reviewed security risks following the attack and concluded there was no need for a travel warning on the republic. (Straits Times 25 Oct 2002) (3)

  Tourist arrivals here dropped for the fourth consecutive month in August to 671,154 visitors - down 3.3 per cent - over the same period last year, according to Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) latest monthly report. (Straits Times 5 Oct 2002) (H2)

  Singapore has cut down the time needed for Chinese nationals to get a business visa from two week to three working days as part of its plan to ride on China's growing economic prowess. Other changes include letting businessmen from China stay here for two years or longer. They could only do so for only one year before. Tourists from China can also get multi-entry passes to stay here for up to two weeks, instead of four days, as long as they arrive and leave together. Singapore hopes to draw one million tourists from China by 2005. A total of 336,000 visited Singapore in the first six months of 2002, 43 per cent more than the same period in 2001. (Straits Times 3 Oct 2002) (1)

  Hoping to attract more guests, seven hotels in the Havelock area have come together to provide free shuttle services to guests from their hotels to Orchard Road, Chinatown and Shenton Way from Monday. The service which uses 45-seater buses will be offered for two years by: Novotel Apollo Singapore, Copthorne King's Hotel, The Gallery Hotel, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Concorde Hotel, Miramar Hotel and Riverview Hotel. (Straits Times 26 Jun 2002) (H4)

  More than 200,000 copies of two Singapore Tourism Board (STB) guide books in Chinese - Insider's Guide, 101 Ways To Live It Up In Singapore and Portrait Of A City, which were distributed mainly in China and Hongkong - have been recalled and destroyed because of translation errors. A STB spokesman said the first two guide books were produced through an agency in Shanghai in 2000 and 2001 respectively. A new, revised edition of the three titles will be published soon. (Straits Times 5 Apr 2002) (6)

  Cruise and ferry passengers will have to go through strict security checks at the Singapore Cruise Centre from May 1. Search counters, X-ray machines, walk-through detectors and metal detectors will be used to check every passenger and his baggage at the centre's cruise and ferry terminals. (Straits Times 22 Mar 2002) (H8)

  The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has sent letters to dive shops which have been organising dive trips to tell them to stop offering the tours in an industry said to be worth S$20 million. Owners who do not comply face a S$10,000 fine or jail. There are about 25,000 certified divers in Singapore and between 15 and 20 established dive shops. Under legislation in place since 1976, a licence is required for dive-shop operators. The requirements are: a minimum of S$100,000 in paid-up capital, a key executive with two years' managerial experience in a tour agency, and dedicated office space for the travel-agent business. (Straits Times 22 Mar 2002) (H1)

  Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has a new chairman. Today, its deputy chairman, Mr WEE Ee Chao, takes over from incumbent Edmund CHENG. Mr WEE is the chairman and managing director of local stockbroking house UOB Kay Hian Holdings. (Straits Times 1 Jan 2002)(H6)

  2001

  The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) extended a S$13 million aid package to the beleaguered tourism industry last night to help firms with cash flow and project development. The number of visitors to Singapore is projected to fall by 3 to 5 per cent and tourism receipts by 10 per cent. (Straits Times 2 Nov 2001)(6)

  As many as one million tourists from China could be coming to Singapore by 2005. This would make China, currently the sixth largest source of visitors, one of Singapore's largest tourism markets.  (Straits Times 6 Oct 2001)(H13)

  Over 7.6 million visitors streamed into Singapore in 2000. They set a new record in tourist arrivals and, going by past expenditure reports, they are likely to have spent at least S$4.5 billion while they were here. The last record was set in 1996, when 7.29 million visitors passed through Singapore's entry points. (Straits Times 4 Jan 2001)