What's New in Singapore

Singapore is merely 270 square miles in size, but what lies within the small island country off the Malay Peninsula has contributed to it becoming one of the world’s financial centers and, thus, business destinations. Singapore’s overall visitor count for 2010 is expected to be as high as 12.5 million when the final numbers are in, a whopping 30 percent increase over 2009’s figure. 

The destination is also auditing its 2010 meetings-sector results. The total  should be near or above 2009’s 689 meetings, which qualified it as the Union of International Associations’ (UIA) “Top International Meeting City” and second behind the United States in UIA’s “Top International Meeting Countries.” It was again Asia’s top convention city according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), and fifth-ranked globally. 

“Singapore has always been an important center for business for the rest of Asia, the U.S., China, and Indonesia, and some markets are seeing 40 percent growth,” says Serene Tan, New York-based area director for the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). “It has a lot to do with our improving infrastructure, and our two new integrated resorts contributed to our growth. We have a good pipeline of [meetings], and we have a projection of reaching 17 million annual visitors by 2015.” 

Tan refers to the $5.7 billion Marina Bay Sands and $4.4 billion Resorts World Sentosa resorts that are leading the infrastructural developments and visitor attractions that will debut over the next several years. Marina Bay Sands, developed by Las Vegas Sands Corp., opened in the spring of 2010 and features 2,500 guest rooms, a four-story casino, celebrity chef restaurants, luxury shopping, and a 1.3-million-sf convention facility with a capacity for 45,000. 

The Vegas-style resort has more than 380 future meetings and business events on the books, according to Tan, and complements the city’s Singapore Expo and Suntec Singapore convention centers. Marina Bay Sands also has a range of event spaces, topped literally by those at the Sands Sky Park, which spreads across the top of the resort’s three hotel towers like a giant table. When confabs are not in session at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, or when private events are not taking place within the Sky Park’s 133,000-sf footprint, meeting-goers can find tranquility in the rooftop pavilion’s landscaped gardens, dine at restaurants, swim in three infinity pools, or gaze at the city from a public observation deck 57 stories high. 

Like Marina Bay Sands, the family-oriented Resorts World Sentosa, on Sentosa Island just off Marina Bay, is doing well, according to Tan, with some 30 major business events having taken place there this past year. Group space highlights are the 20,000-sf Compass Ballroom, with a capacity of 7,300 conferees; the WaterWorld Amphitheater at Universal Studios Singapore, which can be bought out; and the 1,600-seat Festive Grand Theatre at the Festive Hotel.  

The resort, which opened Phase I a year ago, has four hotels for a total 1,300-room stock, including the Festive Hotel and a Hard Rock property, plus Southeast Asia’s only Universal Studios theme park, a high-end casino, and 60 food and beverage options. Renowned French chef Joel Robuchon is soon to open two restaurants and a pastry shop.

Still slated to open at Resorts World Sentosa are two more hotels; the Maritime Xperiential Museum, which explores the beginnings of sea trade between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe; and the Marine Life Park. Future attendees at the resort will be able to take their families to the 20-acre, 700,000-inhabitant aquarium, which is expected to be the largest in the world.  

Besides the attractions at Singapore’s two newest signature resorts, there are plenty of other things for groups to do, see, and eat in the island nation now and in the near future. Tan notes that most points of interest are conveniently concentrated around Marina Bay. 

Since 2008, visitors in search of stunning panoramas have flocked to the Singapore Flyer, a 540-foot-tall “Observation (don’t call it Ferris) Wheel” with 28-guest capsules completing one revolution every 30 minutes. The Flyer offers a private capsule package with butler service, canapes, and beverages; it also offers a cocktail-only package.

In the area is the National Museum of Singapore, the Singapore Art Museum, and, for stamp lovers, the Singapore Philatelic Museum. In 2013, one more institution, the National Art Gallery, focused on Southeast Asian and Singaporean visual arts, will augment the art district. 

Another diversion sure to attract and entertain attendees is Gardens by the Bay, projected to open later this year and become a signature attraction of Singapore. Occupying about 250 acres in the heart of Marina Bay, the Gardens will showcase exotic plants amid what Tan describes as giant, tree-like structures 15 stories tall that will have event spaces, restaurants, and even spas.  

Nature lovers have additional points of interest further out from the city center, one of them being the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Another green highlight is the HSBC TreeTop Walk, a narrow (single-file) pedestrian suspension bridge that connects Bukit Peirce and Bukit Kalang, the two highest points of MacRitchie Reservoir Park.  

Further north, in Singapore’s Nature Reserve area, is the Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari, with 120 species and over 1,000 animals, which can be explored by foot or tram. Later this year, the neighboring River Safari will debut. 

While Singapore’s culinary scene has seen an influx of high-end, celebrity chef eateries, the country is renowned for its street food, which is found plentifully at “hawker centers,” open-air food courts lined by stalls. 

“We get a lot of questions about our street food,” Tan happily notes of those groups that opt to experience the local food scene over gourmet dining, “so we organize tours [to hawker centers] and cooking demonstrations.” The STB only began food tours in recent years, and it has even leveraged this Singaporean cultural phenomenon into teambuilding opportunities, where attendees can learn to prepare unorthodox Chinese dishes based on Indian ingredients like tamarind and tumeric.  

  

Tan remarks that while groups have plenty to do within the Marina Bay area, Singapore also offers experiences like this that are off the beaten path.