TTG Asia Media’s editorial and sales teams whipped up curry chicken and roti jala
Our team had a recent teambuilding activity at Food Playground, a six-month-old cooking studio in Singapore that serves up cultural cooking classes to leisure travellers and caters for corporate events.
While such studios are not all that uncommon in Singapore, I was impressed by managing director Daniel Tan’s emphasis on local recipes – a deliberate attempt to showcase Singapore’s rich food heritage to foreign visitors whether through satay or onde onde. Even Food Playground’s location – in a restored shophouse near one of the city’s colourful cultural precincts – was smartly chosen.
If you ask me, it is experiences like these that travel consultants should incorporate into their offerings. Whether travelling as part of a group series or free and easy, tourists these days crave unique memories they can pack home with them, especially for a mature destination like Singapore where many boast of having been more than once.
Singapore has been lucky in the last few years, with attractions rolling in one after the other since the rise of the integrated resorts. The opening of the mega projects in phases means that the country has been receiving a steady flow of new products, from an ArtScience museum to a Marine Life Park. The once urban-centric destination can also now brandish several nature options like Gardens by the Bay and newest kid on the block, River Safari.
But yet it is never really about the number of attractions that one has but how creatively they are packaged. Which is why I am surprised that none of the travel experts interviewed (see page 3) expressed interest in creating a customised itinerary for nature lovers based on Singapore’s recent openings. The irony is that as I write this, today’s front page story in the local broadsheet is of how the country may soon be getting its first UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to the 154-year-old Botanic Gardens.
Sure, the bulk of travellers may continue to demand packages that allow them to see “a bit of everything”, but given that the goal these days is to work towards attracting discerning guests who seek differentiated experiences, sticking with the status quo is antiquated.
In fact, hoteliers seem to have taken this challenge more seriously. How many brands or properties have launched their own insider/live like a local experiences, targeting guests who want to be fully immersed in the destination? Hotels recognise that it is no longer about the hardware, and it is a scary thought that they might do such a great job at providing experience-oriented stays that day trips by local tour operators may no longer be needed.
The travel trade should really take a cue from tourism boards and look beyond the mass market. As part of its push for high yield, the Singapore Tourism Board has announced a new Kickstart Fund with an initial funding of S$5 million (US$4 million) to support lifestyle concepts with strong tourism potential and scalability.
And it is not just Singapore that’s going for spend. Malaysia, too, is increasingly gunning for upmarket business, joined also by Indonesia and Thailand, whose buzzwords now are “niche” or “special interest”. Culinary, golf, nature and ecotourism, and health and wellness are just some examples.
Oh, and by the way, the last I checked, Food Playground was ranked fourth out of Singapore’s 279 attractions listed on TripAdvisor, which just goes to prove how much interest there is in such a product.
Gracia Chiang
Deputy Group Editor and
TTG Asia Editor
Compete on experience
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