Monday, November 24, 2008

Tourism Roles and Economic Value

3.1 Place Marketing
Singapore has earned the reputation of being a city known for trade, business and investment. Over the last couple of years, the government of Singapore built up new venues like the Esplanade, the Peranakan Museum. They also implemented strategies like giving grants to growing artists. All these and more are efforts implemented by the government to transform Singapore into an artistic hub. Recently, the Singapore Biennale has worked along the government strategy by showcasing contemporary art to the public. It certainly helped to boost the art scene in Singapore to tourists and certainly locals visiting, showcasing the fact that Singapore is forever seeking and growing. We are a cosmopolitan society that aims to be on be on top for every industry.

At the same time, the Singapore Biennale featured special segments and programs like Kids Biennale. The drawings are themed Alice in Wonderland, a place of great imagination. The pictures showcased reflect creativity by the kids which is certainly positive for them in their phase of growing up. Clearly, the Singapore Biennale is not something that involves tourists; it involves the local community as well.


3.2 Tourist Attraction
Art is boundless. It is forever pursued by people, to explore, to understand their elements and concepts. On a daily basis, people flock to the Louvre in Paris to view the famous paintings by Picasso or Leonardo Da Vinci. The Eiffel Tower depicts magnificent architecture. Such famous art works attract the arrival of tourists and so does the role of the Singapore Biennale.

The Singapore Biennale is only held once in every 2 years. Just like any other Biennales in the world, each showcases something that is unique and not found at other biennales. After 2 months, it will be the end of yet another Biennale in which the next showcase would be in the year of 2010. Hence, the event itself has transformed into a temporary tourist destination attracting visitors to visit before it closes. In addition, the success of the inaugural 2006 Biennale has made it into a renowned art event hence it is well sought of by many art lovers in the world. There were certainly many tourists spotted during our visit to the Singapore Biennale. Hence, the Singapore Biennale has helped the country boost its tourism arrivals and tourism receipts


3.3 Catalyst
The Singapore Biennale is a showcase of contemporary art. Yet, most of its exhibitions are placed in the old historical buildings of City Hall and South Beach Development. Clearly, the organizers did not build new infrastructure for the Biennale. They simply made use of a significant part of history to showcase something modern new. In a way, tourists and visitors visiting the Biennale not only get to see the art pieces, they get to see the historical attractions of the City Hall and South Beach as well. The buildings have not been used for a long time and the Singapore Biennale has seems to restore them back to life. They are being reused to showcase a temporary tourist attraction.In this way the government also saved a sum of money in terms of building infrastructure costing.


3.4 Image Maker
The theme of the Singapore Biennale is known as WONDER. Indeed, the purpose of the Biennale was to allow visitors to explore with an open mind, allow relaxation amidst the hustle and bustle of Singapore. Art reflects in daily life and some of the art pieces depict certain creativity and eye catching moments. It also boasts a huge significance of heritage and culture. Singapore being the host of the Biennale and these art pieces; it naturally will reflect in the tourist or visitors minds that the art piece is linked to Singapore(although the artists may come from another country). This means, whatever the visitors could think of, it would be reflected on Singapore’s image. The Biennale has received both positive and negative reviews by people from all over the world. The outcome of our image fluctuates between the good average and bad. Nevertheless, ultimately it still help boasts the cosmopolitan side of Singapore; a country that is receptive and adaptable to changes.

3.5 Economic Value
The Singapore Biennale is a well known art event that attracts the influx of art lovers and certainly tourists. In this way, it has already contributed to the Singapore Economy through their visitor arrivals.Every single arrival at the Biennale requires Biennale passes which is needed to be paid for. Hence, the more the number of visitor arrivals, the more the amount money of spent by them. In a long run, the Singapore economy benefits. On top of that, the Singapore Biennale attracted its fair share of tourist visits. Hence this meant a boost in tourism arrivals and certainly tourism receipts. This tourism receipts include accommodation fees at hotels, transport, food and beverage, Biennale passes and the various merchandise that could be bought at the Singapore Biennale.

The merchandise offered include mugs, shirts, file slippers and windmills whereby purchasing them would benefit the Singapore Economy as well. In addition, the Singapore Biennale has many joint partnerships and promotions with retail outlets and tourist attractions. For instance, visitors of the Singapore Biennale just had to top up some money to board the Singapore Flyer which is one of Singapore unique tourist attractions; being the largest observation wheel in the world. Promotion discounts with shopping malls in Raffles City Shopping Centre and food and beverage discount with restaurants in Singapore Flyer also encourages visitors of the Singapore Biennale to spend since they are able to get it at a cheaper price. Spending boosts the Singapore Economy as it facilitates movement and growth. The Singapore Biennale is an event for both locals and tourists which meant there is no specific target market for a particular type income group. Hence, it helped to generate a lot of monetary benefits for the economy

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