STB and Expedia ink 2-year global marketing deal

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Expedia have inked a two-year global marketing partnership to stimulate the local tourism industry by supporting home-grown businesses and strengthen Singapore’s position as a destination of choice when international travel resumes. From now until April 2021, STB and Expedia will team up to support the on-going SingapoRediscovers campaign. Residents in Singapore will be offered domestic holiday bundles, attractive staycation packages, attractions and tours that cater to a variety of interests and budgets. There will also be inspirational content that spotlights Singapore’s unique local highlights, inviting locals to rediscover 10 of our key precincts.

These will be hosted on a STB-Expedia SingaporeRediscovers campaign landing page. As part of overall efforts to rebuild trust in travel and provide greater assurance of safety and cleanliness for locals and subsequently international travellers, the landing page will also highlight the SG Clean certification programme. The deal with Expedia comes shortly after STB teamed up with Klook to launch a SG$2 million domestic marketing partnership to drive the rediscovery of Singapore’s tourism and lifestyle offerings, and to encourage locals to explore and experience a different side of Singapore through a seven-month partnership. The partnership has three focus areas: curated promotions for products and experiences, content development, and digital marketing to boost spend.  

Meanwhile, as international travel gradually resumes, STB and Expedia, through its Expedia Group Media Solutions brand, will jointly promote Singapore as the destination of choice in 10 overseas markets – Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. Apart from offering attractive promotions for travel-related products and experiences such as flight promotions, online display ads and creative campaigns will also be rolled out to put Singapore at the top of international travellers’ minds.

Lynette Pang, assistant chief executive (Marketing Group), Singapore Tourism Board said the main objective through this initiative has been to support local business, who are the “heat and soul of Singapore’s tourism industry”. She added that when global travel returns and when the time is right, this partnership with Expedia will allow the Singapore tourism industry to tap on Expedia’s vast global network and user base to help local businesses reach new customers. “In the immediate term, we will encourage locals to rediscover their neighbourhoods and precincts, and to support their favourite businesses safely and responsibly,” said Lynette Pang, assistant chief executive (Marketing Group), Singapore Tourism Board.

Ang Choo Pin, senior director, government and corporate affairs, and managing director Asia, Expedia Group added that the pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis for the tourism industry, and the reopening of tourism-related businesses and managing their recovery in a way that is safe, attractive and economically viable for our customers will require coordination at a level not seen before. “As we work towards stimulating demand for domestic tourism and subsequently international leisure tourism as global travel gradually resumes, Expedia is uniquely positioned to leverage our global expertise, influence and technology to reinvigorate the Singapore tourism industry and help local tourism establishments sustain and grow their operations in the post-pandemic future,” said Ang.

Lawrence Koh, CEO of iFly Singapore said: “iFly Singapore is one of Singapore’s most popular attractions, frequented by both Singaporeans and overseas visitors. When travel came to a standstill, it propelled us to adopt various measures like redesigning our packages for the local market and restructuring our approaches to defray costs to stabilise the business. This partnership between Expedia and the Singapore Tourism Board and the marketing efforts stemming from the SingapoRediscovers campaign helps puts us on track to recovery and we are looking forward to welcoming even more Singaporeans and visitors, especially during the year-end holidays.”

In July this year, STB, Sentosa Development Corporation and Enterprise Singapore rolled out the SingapoRediscovers campaign, setting aside SG$45 million for its supporting marketing initiatives. The latest campaign, which is also the largest campaign introduced in Singapore to drive local demand, supports local lifestyle and tourism business and encourages Singaporeans and residents to explore different sides of Singapore.

STB's chief executive Keith Tan added that in 2018 Singaporeans spent SG$34 billion on travel alone, and with this new campaign, STB hopes to have a fraction of that spend here in Singapore since the future of overseas travel remains uncertain.He added that this SG$45m is not redirected from the tourism body's initial spend allocated to marketing in overseas countries. While STB will "not spend as much" in the conventional markets it normally does, it will maintain some of its international market so the nation "doesn’t lose brand equity" in minds of travellers. 

Since then, STB has struck up numerous partnerships. Most recently, it inked a three year deal with DBS to stimulate domestic tourism demand in the immediate term, as well as drive cross-border demand and catalyse tourism industry development in the mid- to long-term. In the coming months, both parties will invest in domestic marketing campaigns to encourage locals to rediscover homegrown tourism products and experiences, as well as stimulate local demand to complement the SingapoRediscovers campaign.

DBS and STB will partner on content creation and distribution to increase awareness, consideration and consumption of local tourism experiences and brands. These will be amplified across DBS platforms which include the DBS Travel Marketplace, DBS’ social media communities such as The Burrow, and marketing channels. Both parties will also curate promotional bundles for attractions, tours and hotel stays.

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