Partnering to strengthen tourism in Singapore

In 2020, Singapore’s local tourism industry was hit hard by international travel restrictions and reduced demand due to COVID-19. To help, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) partnered with Visa to focus on two strategic priorities: producing research and analytics to support local small to medium-sized businesses and launching marketing campaigns to help rejuvenate tourism.

Action

• Visa and STB co-published a report delving into COVID-19’s economic impact on Singapore’s tourism industry and providing data-driven insights for local businesses.¹
• The partners also launched the #WhereYouShopMatters and #SingapoRediscovers marketing campaigns to encourage Singaporeans to shop at local retailers. These were followed by international promotions to boost Singapore’s profile as a tourist destination once global travel resumed.²

Status

The collaboration helped provide new insight for local tourism and lifestyle businesses adapting to changes in light of the pandemic (such as the shift to digital commerce) while helping to raise awareness of Singapore’s tourism sector, which accounts for 4% of the country’s GDP.³

1. STB and Visa. Impact of COVID-19 on tourism in Singapore & the road to recovery and transformation.
2. Visa press release, 2020.
3. Singapore Tourism Board.