Commentary: Singapore’s local attractions need to be more attractive than this
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Commentary: Singapore'southward local attractions need to exist more than attractive than this
We might need to get right back to the drawing board over again, to create more engaging and authentic experiences, says Tracy Lee.
View of the Clarke Quay expanse in Singapore. (Photo: Lydia Lam)
02 May 2022 05:59AM (Updated: 08 Jul 2022 09:00PM)
SINGAPORE: In 2018, xix.1 million tourists came to Singapore and spent Southward$27.7 billion hither.
The same twelvemonth, Singaporeans went on 24.9 one thousand thousand international trips and spent South$34 billion overseas.
So, when COVID-xix kept overseas visitors out and trapped u.s.a. all here, depriving us of our Japan sakura fixes, Zermatt ski trips, Chatuchak shopping binges and Maldives beach vibes, Singaporeans could have been counted on to prop up our tourism industry.
Well, nosotros did endeavor.
Postal service-lockdown, we visited the Zoo for the animals, and Botanic Gardens and Gardens by the Bay for the institute life. We got swabbed for cruises to nowhere, and hung out at Marina Bay and the borough district museums quite a lot.
Many of u.s.a. flocked to Sentosa and East Declension beaches, so much so that pre-booking and yellow rope squares were implemented to ensure safe distancing.
And we took staycations, went on many hikes and wheel rides.
READ: Commentary: What is taking people so long to redeem their Singapore tourism vouchers?
But as of Mar one, iii-quarters of our S$320 million SingapoRediscover vouchers remain unused. Was it just too troublesome to collect the vouchers personally, or redeem them online?
Or, could it be possible that Singaporeans find Singapore too boring?
WHAT'S ATTRACTIVE ABOUT SINGAPORE ATTRACTIONS?
STB has been pro-active in expanding our attraction offerings, but I am not sure it hits the marking.
Let's accept the Museum of Water ice Foam Singapore (an offshoot of the New York City original, opening here in August), which is essentially a selfie museum. I tin encounter how information technology would describe young families and social media-obsessed millennials and Gen Zs.
Even though the Singapore branch of the Ice Cream Museum offers local flavours such as Milo, Bandung and Boba, it'due south still substantially a selfie museum and doesn't do much to promote Singapore's heritage.
Whose brilliant thought was it to cutting and paste a museum from somewhere else in the world and pass it off as the newest, most exciting allure?
READ: 'Dragon Playground' and sprinkle pool: What to wait at Singapore's Museum of Ice Cream
It only seems hip and gimmicky. Tin it endure the attention spans of Instagrammers and TikTok-ers which are like, 8 seconds?
SkyHelix Sentosa, the open-air rotating gondola that will ascend 35m above the footing and offering views of Singapore's southern coast, slated to open 2022, sounds like it has been done before.
Those who call back Sentosa'south Tiger Sky Tower (2008-2018, RIP) and the roller-coaster (mis)fortunes of The Singapore Flyer will exist curious to run into how SkyHelix fares.
Especially when there are already and so many places in Sentosa that offer great views: Think Fort Siloso SkyWalk, all those cable cars, various hotels' balconies and rooftop bars.
I frequently wondered why the giant Merlion That Shoots Lasers From Its Eyeballs observation tower was demolished. To me, that looked more uniquely Singaporean than SkyHelix, which resembles a rooftop water tank.
And honestly, an open up-air gondola in Singapore where insanely hot days are punctuated with thunderstorms spells trouble.
Sometime FAVOURITES NEED A NEW LIFE
The casualties in our national struggle to find interesting things for people to practice are plenty. During my recent Sentosa staycation, I came across the overgrown, abandoned ruins of a mini-golf course, and noted that Kidzania, a career-themed attraction that lets kids "try out" more than 100 jobs, had shut downwards.
READ: KidZania Singapore closes permanently afterwards 4 years, lays off 103 employees
During a recent visit to the Singapore Scientific discipline Heart, which I hadn't been to since I was a child, I found myself fatigued to the newish exhibits of optical illusions, located right after the entrance.
But the displays were too pocket-size and crammed together, leaving visitors petty fourth dimension and infinite to actually capeesh the illusions, and read up on the explanations, without feeling rushed to move on.
The infinity windows and digital fun-house "mirrors" were definitely attempts to attract social-media posts and hashtags, equally with the mirror maze. I would take given the laser maze a go, if non for the long waiting fourth dimension.
Merely I couldn't assistance but feel that while these exhibits were amusing and interactive, they didn't teach me much about science.
Other exhibits further in, such every bit the one on fire and combustion, the urban planning, the Tesla coil and Jacob'southward Ladder, looked dated, as if stuck in a 70s fourth dimension warp - not quite the await modernistic, technologically advanced Smart Nation Singapore might be going for.
We could take a leaf from Europe'due south largest scientific discipline museum, City of Science and Industry in Paris, where scale, theatricality, technology, artistry, storytelling and engaging interactive hands-on elements come up together to deliver visitors a fun, impactful and educational feel.
There's an unabridged department for children simply they are divided into dissimilar "cities" – one for kids two to seven years old and 1 for older children.
Well-travelled Singapore residents have been spoiled all these years. Catering to the local market merely when borders shut has meant that we are simply now looking at how our attractions meet the mark.
WHERE A RIVER RUNS THROUGH
Having strong offerings might non require us to import some new flashy museum. The historical riverside quay, with its beautiful heritage-status godowns and even a erstwhile cannery, could do with fewer bars, restaurants and kitschy souvenir stalls or thrill rides.
READ: Commentary: It'southward a shame redeeming SingapoRediscovers vouchers tin can be such a hassle
If we made an effort, locals and tourists alike can relish a well-curated, entertaining Singapore River Museum covering everything from the river's importance in transporting goods, what life was like for a coolie versus his colonial bosses, the big Singapore River clean-up, how people kept track of cargo before the advent of modernistic warehousing logistics, and and then many other interesting factoids.
I imagine a boat ride forth the river, where the outbound journeying has me wearing VR goggles and watching lively depictions of the life, people and early developments along the waterway in the 1800s and 1900s.
On the return journey, we'd remove the VR goggles, and sip local craft beers or cocktails fabricated using locally-distilled spirits, while marveling at how far Singapore has come.
Which was why I am not sure virtually Clarke Quay'south upcoming Slingshot, where riders volition exist catapulted almost 70m in the air at speeds of upward to 160km per hour. I can't quite see what value it adds to Clarke Quay, given that it replaces the G-Max Opposite Bungee, which stopped operating well-nigh two years ago.
Do Clarke Quay revellers need additional help upchucking their beers?
In that location'Due south MUCH TO Love ABOUT THE Urban center
That is not to say nada is worth our time. There's a reason the entire Marina Bay expanse appears on then many Instagram posts – it'southward stunning any time of the solar day.
Centrally located crowd favourites, such as the Singapore Art Museum, Asian Civilisations Museum and National Museum, are very lovely, probably considering their location and accessibility justifies them getting more budget.
READ: Commentary: What the Singapore tourism vouchers are really about
The hardware is all definitely in that location, but sometimes no amount of engineering science tin can make a os-dry out narrative compelling. Peradventure curators and historians could work more than with content creators, professional person writers, VR technologists and so on, to jazz stuff up?
With then many graduates spilling out from the School of The Arts and Singapore Academy of Technology and Pattern, lack of talent surely cannot be the issue.
To get tourists and locals to spend more and eventually to that big goal of tourists staying more than the boilerplate 3.seven days when travel resumes, nosotros need to get people to meet beyond usual fan favourites Marina Bay, Orchard Route, Botanic Gardens, Sentosa and the Singapore Zoo.
When travel restrictions await par for the course for the next few years, local attractions and retailers must win over locals or risk going belly up.
Perchance STB could come up upwards with a option of curated full- or one-half-mean solar day experiences further afield, organised past geographic zones, neighbourhoods and themes, with looping coach services for each?
In that location are signs we are starting to do that which shows innovative and impactful policy is welcome. STB announced on Friday (Apr xxx) that the Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore (HECS) has partnered with Urban center Tours to launch a series of heartland tours with themes similar disappearing trades, photo spots, interesting food and shopping hunts.
READ: Commentary: Don't need a survey to judge if Singapore is heady
I would sign upwardly for a "Farms to Tables" twenty-four hour period trip, covering old school and ultra-modern hydroponic farms, a dairy and maybe a kelong, with luncheon and dinner at eateries using local produce. Or a "Spice and Alcohol" one covering local breweries and distilleries which showcase some of our budding talents in this surface area.
Singapore has the coin, the engineering science and the talent to really showcase our little metropolis. Just we need to aim for attractions that trumpet Singapore's multi-faceted history and its outsized aspirations, in a manner that's center-popping, jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, and rib-tickling.
We have to be bold and go large, or visitors (whether local or tourists) will just stay home.
Worse, they might simply go elsewhere when the gates finally open up.
Tracy Lee is a freelance author who writes most food, travel, style and beauty.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/singapore-tourist-attractions-sentosa-ice-cream-museum-vouchers-245581
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