CHENNAI: Chennai stands second after Mumbai in terms of generating visitors to Singapore. Chennaiites are also interested in long weekend trips to the destination, said G B Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
The board is planning to focus more on tier-two cities like Tiruchy, Kochi, Amritsar, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune to increase tourist arrivals from these cities this year. This is because there are more visitors from these cities, he said.
“Chennai is number two after Mumbai in terms of generating visitors to Singapore. Many from Chennai are interested in long weekend trips. Of the total visitors from across the world, 60 per cent visited Singapore last year, Srithar said.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday Adrian Kong, Area Director of the board, said India stands number four in generating visitors. Of the 16.4 million tourist arrival, 1.1 million were Indians, this was an eight per cent increase over 2015 figures .
India is number one on cruise market and over one lakh people went on cruise tourism last year, a 29 per cent increase. This is 7.7 per cent increase in total cruise tourists arrival to Singapore.
Singapore tourism also targets business tourists. It set a target of 16.4 million in 2016 and 16.7 million this year.
Since there are 230 plus flights in a week to Singapore from India and direct flights from tier two cities, Tiruchy, Kochi, Amritsar, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune, there is scope for increasing tourists flow further. Also, more leisure tourists are from Tiruchy, Srithar said.
The board also organised road shows in Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, which concluded in Chennai.
India is the fourth largest market after Indonesia, China and Malaysia. More and more visitors are from South-East-Asia and more are expected from here, said Adrian Kong.
The board is also in talks with Kollywood producers to shoot in Singapore which will help in branding, Srithar said.