PM Lee urges workers to support and work with leaders for a better future

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged workers to support leaders who care for them, and work with them to secure a better future.

In his May Day message, Mr Lee stressed that making Singapore thrive cannot depend on the government alone.

He said workers must value their jobs, and strive to upgrade and adapt, as the economy restructures. And employers too have to do their part.

Mr Lee said companies need to value workers and nurture a strong Singaporean core.

He urged employers to share the “fruits of success with their workers and the community, and strengthen the social compact”.

Unions on the other hand, Mr Lee said, must help their members adjust to the new landscape, and cooperate with employers to upgrade businesses, jobs and wages. 

As Singapore enters a new phase of slower economic growth, Mr Lee said the country must continue to create opportunities, develop new capabilities and improve the lives of Singaporeans. 

He cited several initiatives in place to achieve this. Among them is the $5.3 billion Transition Support Package to help businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), raise productivity and rely less on foreign workers.

The Wage Credit Scheme will help businesses manage rising wage costs in a tight labour market. 

And for older and low-wage workers, there’s the improved Workfare scheme that will raise incomes.

Mr Lee said the government is also reviewing its social policies to give more help to seniors and the less fortunate, especially in healthcare and housing.

Mr Lee said, “The road ahead is challenging, but I am confident we will succeed. We have successfully restructured our economy before. Each transition was difficult, but each time we emerged stronger, and improved our standard of living. Our well-educated and productive workforce is one of the world’s best. 

“Asia is doing well, which will benefit us as long as we stay competitive. Singapore’s international standing is high, both in Asia and in the developed world. We must maintain this confidence and reputation, to continue attracting investments and creating good jobs for our people. Let us work together to keep Singapore a land of opportunity and an inclusive society for many years to come.”

PM Lee urges workers to support and work with leaders for a better future

WPP PLC : XM Asia retains digital duties for STB - 4

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SINGAPORE - XM Asia Pacific, which has served as digital agency of record for the Singapore Tourism Board since 2009, retained the business after a highly-competitive pitch.

The win underscores the strength of XM’s innovative offering and the depth of its relationship with this key client, which is one of Singapore’s largest advertisers.

“It has been a four-year journey culminating in an intense pitch battle amongst the full roster of blue-chip agency brands. I can only sum it up with two words; “Heart” “Soul”. Those were the key differentiating factors for us,” said Paul Soon, XM-Asia, CEO. “Our suits, planners and creatives were able to meld their smarts with teamwork and passion, to work tirelessly in developing a digital strategy that was insightful, inspiring and fresh. The fighting spirit was bordering on the apocalyptic and I am very proud of them for being able to achieve this epic result in XM’s history. We have learnt that where there is unity, there is always victory.”

Over the last four years, XM Asia revamped the STB’s portal to the new YourSingapore portal, and created additional local language versions of the site to target travellers from Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Indonesia and China. XM Asia also developed the user experience, content strategy and creative application of the brand in the digital space, and expanded STB’s digital brand presence from its website to a variety of assets, including Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn and Flickr channels, to improve its ability to engage travellers online and on social media. XM Asia also worked on integrated campaigns for the STB’s key markets, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

In February 2013, the STB also awarded XM Asia its GEMS UP project, which is an initiative to improve the quality of service in Singapore. XM, which is best known for its digital work, is tasked with creating integrated campaigns, including print, radio, digital, mobile and activation, for this project.

“I’m thrilled the STB has given us yet another vote of confidence. They are one of our most valued clients, and our entire team is looking forward to the next phase of our journey together,” said Soon.

About XM Asia Pacific

Driven by the underlying desire and passion to make a positive difference, XM Asia Pacific has been consistently delivering effective, innovative and award-winning strategies that seamlessly evolve with the ever-changing business landscape since 1995.

As one of Asia’s first and largest digital agencies, XM Asia Pacific offers a full range of proven digital marketing, technology consulting and experience design services across its network of offices in Southeast Asia for a wide-spanning portfolio of clients such as the Singapore Tourism Board, Maxis, Unilever, Nestlé, MasterCard, Malaysia Airlines, Ford and XL Axiata.

By combining consumer insights, customer intelligence with creative ideation to formulate impactful solutions, XM Asia Pacific creates change that matters not only to clients’ businesses but also to the agency itself. Make change matter. www.xm-asia.comto find out how.

XM Asia is a JWT company, and part of the WPP group.

Contact

Cris Prystay

Asia Pacific Director of Corporate Communications

+65 6880-5134
cris.prystay@jwt.com

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WPP PLC : XM Asia retains digital duties for STB - 4

Seeing Tourism as Crucial, Indonesia Tries to Step Up Its Game

JAKARTA — On a recent bright Sunday morning, tourists sipped cool drinks and dined on platters of fried rice and satay at the air-conditioned Café Batavia, nestled inside a 19th-century building in Jakarta’s old colonial city, Kota Tua.

Outside, other structures built by the Dutch traders who once ran Jakarta crumbled in the tropical heat.

Officials say they hope one day Kota Tua’s canals and stone streets will resemble Venice. But for now, the scene is one of dilapidation, and Café Batavia is one of the few tourist-friendly restaurants in an area the government has designated for a major revitalization project.

“It’s lost in the dirt and grime,” said Sharon Venhoek, an Australian visiting her daughter in Jakarta. “If they were able to restore it, it would be amazing.”

Tourism is one of the “pillars” of Indonesia’s economic growth strategy, said Helen Marano, the vice president of government and industry affairs at the World Travel and Tourism Council, a global organization for travel businesses. Officials say an increase in tourist numbers would increase the country’s revenue, generate jobs for locals and help lift trade and investment.

“They’re trying to improve the health and wealth of the entire country, not just one center,” Ms. Marano said.

That means the industry is crucial at a time when the Indonesian economy may be poised to take off.

Indonesia has found foreign direct investment surging 27 percent in the first quarter to a record 65.5 trillion rupiah, or $6.7 billion, according to official figures released last week. But in a March 18 report, the World Bank said regulatory uncertainty, specifically in the resources sector, could slow growth. Costly fuel subsidies continue to drain the state budget, and lower prices for the commodities that make up nearly two-thirds of the country’s exports have pushed the country’s current account — a measure of foreign trade and investment — into deficit.

“Now that the current account has deteriorated because of low exports, because of the prices of commodities, tourism is an easy way to increase foreign exchange earnings,” said Fauzi Ichsan, a senior economist and head of government relations at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta. “Plus, you’ve got huge sources of tourists from China, India and the other Asian countries that have been doing well over the past five years.”

Indeed, tourism is the country’s fifth-largest foreign currency earner, after several major commodities — oil and natural gas, palm oil, coal and rubber.

Tourism to the Asia-Pacific region has grown faster than in all other regions in the world over the past two years and is expected to grow between 5 percent and 6 percent in 2013, according the U.N. World Tourism Organization. Much of that growth will come from within the region, and travel industry analysts say Indonesia wants to do more to attract tourists from Asia, and particularly from China.

The number of foreign visitors to Indonesia has grown consistently over the past seven years, to eight million last year from five million in 2005, according to the U.N. tourism organization, which ranks Indonesia 33rd among 50 countries for tourist arrivals, below Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, but above Vietnam and India.

Revenue from tourism is up too, to $9.12 billion last year from $6.3 billion in 2009, according to the Indonesian tourism ministry, which calculates data using a method developed by the U.N. agency.

Total spending from tourists and investment contributed about 250 billion rupiah to the country’s economy in 2012; that represented about 3 percent of gross domestic product, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, which projects that the number will grow to 8.5 percent of G.D.P. in 2013.

To increase the number of foreign visitors to 10 million by 2014, the tourism ministry has participated in international travel fairs, promoting the slogan “Wonderful Indonesia.”

Seeing Tourism as Crucial, Indonesia Tries to Step Up Its Game

Arabian Travel Market to open on high note

Other big names include Gaith Al Gaith, CEO of flydubai; Randy Tinseth, vice-president of Marketing at Boeing Commercial Airlines; Aage Dunhaupt, director of Group Communications, South-East Europe, Middle East and Africa at Lufthansa; Sunil Malhotra, director of the Aviation Sector, Middle East and North Africa, for Ernst Young, as well as officials from Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia. The event comes at a time when there is a strong uptake in the region’s travel and tourism industry. The UAE’s tourism revenue, for instance, is projected to increase by 67 per cent over the next few years, by 2016. The region is now entering a new era of stability and increased connectivity and expansion of existing infrastructure.

Arabian Travel Market to open on high note

Govt responded more positively to S"porean workers" needs in Budget 2013: WP

The opposition Workers’ Party has commended the government for responding more positively to its calls and needs of Singaporean workers in this year’s Budget. 

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Office workers in the Central Business District (CBD) (photo: Francine Lim, channelnewsasia.com)

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SINGAPORE – The opposition Workers’ Party has commended the government for responding more positively to its calls and needs of Singaporean workers in this year’s Budget. 

In its Labour Day message, the WP noted how the government has put forward more measures to improve the standing of Singaporeans in the job market and to raise the incomes of lower-wage workers through further wage subsidies, industry upgrading and training programmes.

Budget 2013 included the $5.3 billion Transition Support Package to help businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), raise productivity and rely less on foreign workers.

But it added that more must be done to ease the burden of the rising cost of living and to increase the wages of workers. 

It urged employers to make full use of the new Budget measures to improve the efficiency of their business processes and upgrade the skills of their workers.

The WP said this will enable businesses to move up the economic value chain, boost productivity and pay their workers more.

It also urged the government, especially the Ministry of Manpower and economic agencies, to help SMEs and workers through this difficult economic transition.

- CNA/de

Govt responded more positively to S"porean workers" needs in Budget 2013: WP

JWT wins Singapore Tourism Board ad account

Singapore: JWT wins the city-state’s tourism board ad account

The business will be run out of JWT Singapore, which will create campaigns for the Europe, the US and Australia. The agency won the business following a pitch process involving more than 20 agencies and which began in January.

Frank Bauer, the chief executive of JWT Singapore, said: “Our entire team is humbled and thrilled. Singapore is a world-class country that embodies the best of Asia’s beauty and diversity.”

In January, JWT Singapore was hired to handle the advertising for the Changi Airport Group.

This article was first published on
campaignlive.co.uk

JWT wins Singapore Tourism Board ad account

Qantas upgrades Qantas Club lounge at Darwin Airport

Qantas will expand its Qantas Club lounge in Darwin, with the new facility opening in mid-2014 with more than twice the current space.

The new lounge will have additional seating, meeting rooms, Wi-Fi, showers and a family zone, along with a new food and beverage area.

The airline says it will “look to use local influences where possible”.

Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce, making the announcement at Darwin Airport, said it would “vastly improve the travel experience for customers of all airlines, including Qantas Group airlines Qantas, QantasLink and Jetstar.”

“Qantas’ award-winning lounges are extremely popular with our customers and they are one of the reasons why Qantas continues to be best for business travellers.”

In addition to domestic Qantas and QantasLink flights out of Darwin, Jetstar operates international services from Darwin to Singapore, Bali, Tokyo and Manila.

Keep up to date with the latest news for business travellers and frequent flyers: follow @AusBT on Twitter.

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About David Flynn

David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.

Follow @ausbt on

Email: david@ausbt.com.au

Twitter: @djsflynn

Qantas upgrades Qantas Club lounge at Darwin Airport