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旅游业遭受重创,新加坡能做些什么?

旅游业遭受重创,新加坡能做些什么?

NAOMI XU ELEGANT 2020-12-18
新冠疫情期间,对新加坡极其重要旅游业和商务旅游业陷入了困境。

新加坡周二宣布将开放一条隔离旅行通道,经隔离旅行通道入境的“商务、公务和高经济价值旅客”可免隔离入住机场附近的指定“安全”设施。

樟宜连接点(Connect@Changi)这一设施将设有客房和会议室,旅客可与入住“安全”设施的其他旅客会面。经隔离旅行通道入境的旅客可在“安全”设施中与新加坡居民会面,但会面双方须用从地面到天花板的安全隔板隔开。

新冠疫情期间,对新加坡极其重要旅游业和商务旅游业陷入了困境,为此,新加坡政府最近推出了商务旅行通道,以强力推动旅游业恢复。

旅游业占新加坡国内生产总值(GDP)的4%,2019年营收达200亿美元,而且,新加坡通常是商务会议和贸易展的首选地。

据新加坡旅游分析网(Singapore Tourism Analytics Network)统计,2019年全年,新加坡累计接待国际游客超过1900万人次,是新加坡人口的三倍多。但截至2020年10月,新加坡今年累计接待游客只有270万人次。

在新加坡,新冠疫情基本上得到了控制;自9月底以来,新加坡每日新增病例不超过20例。但新加坡的面积很小,只有280平方英里,因此不像已经控制住新冠疫情的较大亚洲国家,新加坡无法依靠国内旅游来弥补国际游客急剧下降造成的影响。

“新加坡不像中国大陆、香港或澳大利亚,我们的国内旅游市场并不大,因此我们的旅游业遭受了重创,”新加坡旅游局首席执行官陈基思在本月初接受《财富》全球科技论坛(Fortune Global Tech Forum)在线访谈时说。

为了重振旅游业和商务旅游,新加坡推出了一系列计划,取得了不同程度的成功。

国内旅游

今年六月,随着新加坡放宽居家令和其他新冠疫情封锁限制,新加坡旅游局开始允许热门旅游景点分阶段重新开放,并开始受理国内旅行社复工申请。

次月,新加坡旅游局发起了一项耗资3400万美元的重新探索新加坡(SingapoRediscovers)消费券活动,以促进当地旅游业发展,为当地居民提供“宅度假”(staycation)套餐、观光活动和折扣景点。每位新加坡成人可领取一张价值75美元的消费券,可在入住酒店和购买景点门票时使用。12月1日是使用消费券的第一天,指定预订平台的销售额就达到140万美元。

新加坡著名的星耀樟宜机场(Jewel Changi Airport)为庆祝今年的圣诞节准备了一棵16米高的巨型圣诞树。今年早些时候,新加坡旅游局开始发放消费券,鼓励国人在国内“旅行”。苏海米•阿卜杜拉——图片由盖蒂图片社提供

新加坡旗舰航空公司新加坡航空公司(Singapore Airlines)也推出了一系列创新举措,以增加收入,并恢复部分航线。(10月份,该公司载客量同比下降98.2%。)

这家航空公司推出了“空中漫游”(flights to nowhere)航班,乘客乘坐飞机从新加坡樟宜机场起飞,飞机绕行一圈,然后重回樟宜机场。台湾和香港的航空公司已经推出空中漫游航班,其中一些航班的运营情况比其他航班要好。香港首飞当天,雾霾很严重,乘客根本无法从飞机上看到城市的面貌。

新加坡航空公司最终未将“空中漫游”计划坚持到底,在10月份推出了一项陆地体验活动,客人可在A380双层客机享用晚餐并观赏电影,票价为37至440美元。新加坡航空公司还开始推出参观培训中心和使用飞行模拟器等活动。

新加坡确实允许皇家加勒比海邮轮从其港口出发开始“无处巡航”(cruises to nowhere)巡游项目,但在上周,一艘游轮尽管升级了空气滤清器,接受了强制性检测,并遵守了官方要求的其他安全规程,却因一名乘客新冠病毒检测呈阳性而不得不提前一天返回港口。(目前尚不清楚该乘客在何时何地感染了病毒。)

安全区和通道

今年九月,新加坡根据其航空通行证(Air Travel Pass)计划接待了来自文莱和新西兰的首批旅客。

该计划允许旅客(包括休闲旅客)申请前往新加坡,而且无需经过14天隔离。自九月启动该计划以来,新加坡进一步扩大了符合条件的国家名单,包括澳大利亚、中国、台湾和越南。该计划是单方面的,也就是说,想要前往这些国家的新加坡公民仍需遵守现行新冠疫情旅行限制。

2020年12月9日,皇家加勒比“海洋量子号”(Quantum of the Seas)游轮因船上一名参加“无处巡航”(cruises to nowhere)巡游项目的乘客新冠病毒检测呈阳性而停靠在新加坡滨海湾邮轮中心(Marina Bay Cruise Centre)。胡惠颖——图片由彭博社/盖蒂图片社提供

新加坡还与中国、韩国、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、日本、文莱和德国开通了互惠“绿色通道”,允许一些商务和外交旅客在新冠病毒检测呈阴性后直接入境新加坡,无需隔离。

但新加坡仍未能与其他国家互相开放“旅行安全区”,即允许双方旅客往返旅行,无需隔离。

十一月下旬,新加坡差点就与香港互相开放“旅行安全区”,即允许两地居民免隔离自由往返旅行,但香港出现了第四波新冠疫情,使得“旅行安全区”计划无法如期开展,当局无奈将该计划推迟到2021年。

寄希望于会议

新加坡推出的各种旅行计划为苦苦挣扎的酒店业带来了立竿见影的效果,但他们仍在努力将新加坡打造成一个对旅客安全、开放的地方。随着新冠病毒疫苗问世以及2021年疫情缓解,这一声誉有望给新加坡带来更多的全球会议和活动举办机会。

据旅游局(tourism board)统计,2019年,“会展业”(MICE industry)——会议、奖励旅游、大型会议和展览——为新加坡提供了超过3.4万个就业岗位,并带来了29亿美元收入。

世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)本月早些时候宣布,年会将在新加坡举行,而非此前宣布的瑞士达沃斯。商界和政界精英定于5月举行聚会。如果年会举办成功,将有益于新加坡经济发展,同时明确表明该城市可以举办全球性大型活动或会议,且不会面临新冠病毒传播风险。

但毫无疑问,新加坡仍在饱受疫情初期经历的最糟糕会议情景的困扰。

一月下旬,新加坡的新冠病毒确诊病例居世界第三(当时为43例),一名英国男子在新加坡参加商务会议时感染了新冠病毒。该男子回到欧洲后,又在那里感染了其他一些人。媒体称此次新加坡会议为“超级传播者活动”(super-spreader event)。

新加坡目前对当地新冠疫情的控制效果证实,新加坡明年可以举办诸如世界经济论坛(WEF)年会此类全球性活动。但新加坡对新冠疫情的控制还远远称不上完美。新加坡政府周二表示,一半新加坡外来务工人员都感染了新冠病毒。

新加坡使用血清学测试来检测抗体(表明感染过新冠病毒),并发现98,289名工人有抗体。政府仍在对6.5万名工人进行血清学检测。结果发现,新加坡的新冠确诊病例数远远超过官方统计的约5.8万例。(财富中文网)

翻译:郝秀

审校:汪皓

新加坡周二宣布将开放一条隔离旅行通道,经隔离旅行通道入境的“商务、公务和高经济价值旅客”可免隔离入住机场附近的指定“安全”设施。

樟宜连接点(Connect@Changi)这一设施将设有客房和会议室,旅客可与入住“安全”设施的其他旅客会面。经隔离旅行通道入境的旅客可在“安全”设施中与新加坡居民会面,但会面双方须用从地面到天花板的安全隔板隔开。

新冠疫情期间,对新加坡极其重要旅游业和商务旅游业陷入了困境,为此,新加坡政府最近推出了商务旅行通道,以强力推动旅游业恢复。

旅游业占新加坡国内生产总值(GDP)的4%,2019年营收达200亿美元,而且,新加坡通常是商务会议和贸易展的首选地。

据新加坡旅游分析网(Singapore Tourism Analytics Network)统计,2019年全年,新加坡累计接待国际游客超过1900万人次,是新加坡人口的三倍多。但截至2020年10月,新加坡今年累计接待游客只有270万人次。

在新加坡,新冠疫情基本上得到了控制;自9月底以来,新加坡每日新增病例不超过20例。但新加坡的面积很小,只有280平方英里,因此不像已经控制住新冠疫情的较大亚洲国家,新加坡无法依靠国内旅游来弥补国际游客急剧下降造成的影响。

“新加坡不像中国大陆、香港或澳大利亚,我们的国内旅游市场并不大,因此我们的旅游业遭受了重创,”新加坡旅游局首席执行官陈基思在本月初接受《财富》全球科技论坛(Fortune Global Tech Forum)在线访谈时说。

为了重振旅游业和商务旅游,新加坡推出了一系列计划,取得了不同程度的成功。

国内旅游

今年六月,随着新加坡放宽居家令和其他新冠疫情封锁限制,新加坡旅游局开始允许热门旅游景点分阶段重新开放,并开始受理国内旅行社复工申请。

次月,新加坡旅游局发起了一项耗资3400万美元的重新探索新加坡(SingapoRediscovers)消费券活动,以促进当地旅游业发展,为当地居民提供“宅度假”(staycation)套餐、观光活动和折扣景点。每位新加坡成人可领取一张价值75美元的消费券,可在入住酒店和购买景点门票时使用。12月1日是使用消费券的第一天,指定预订平台的销售额就达到140万美元。

新加坡著名的星耀樟宜机场(Jewel Changi Airport)为庆祝今年的圣诞节准备了一棵16米高的巨型圣诞树。今年早些时候,新加坡旅游局开始发放消费券,鼓励国人在国内“旅行”。苏海米•阿卜杜拉——图片由盖蒂图片社提供

新加坡旗舰航空公司新加坡航空公司(Singapore Airlines)也推出了一系列创新举措,以增加收入,并恢复部分航线。(10月份,该公司载客量同比下降98.2%。)

这家航空公司推出了“空中漫游”(flights to nowhere)航班,乘客乘坐飞机从新加坡樟宜机场起飞,飞机绕行一圈,然后重回樟宜机场。台湾和香港的航空公司已经推出空中漫游航班,其中一些航班的运营情况比其他航班要好。香港首飞当天,雾霾很严重,乘客根本无法从飞机上看到城市的面貌。

新加坡航空公司最终未将“空中漫游”计划坚持到底,在10月份推出了一项陆地体验活动,客人可在A380双层客机享用晚餐并观赏电影,票价为37至440美元。新加坡航空公司还开始推出参观培训中心和使用飞行模拟器等活动。

新加坡确实允许皇家加勒比海邮轮从其港口出发开始“无处巡航”(cruises to nowhere)巡游项目,但在上周,一艘游轮尽管升级了空气滤清器,接受了强制性检测,并遵守了官方要求的其他安全规程,却因一名乘客新冠病毒检测呈阳性而不得不提前一天返回港口。(目前尚不清楚该乘客在何时何地感染了病毒。)

安全区和通道

今年九月,新加坡根据其航空通行证(Air Travel Pass)计划接待了来自文莱和新西兰的首批旅客。

该计划允许旅客(包括休闲旅客)申请前往新加坡,而且无需经过14天隔离。自九月启动该计划以来,新加坡进一步扩大了符合条件的国家名单,包括澳大利亚、中国、台湾和越南。该计划是单方面的,也就是说,想要前往这些国家的新加坡公民仍需遵守现行新冠疫情旅行限制。

2020年12月9日,皇家加勒比“海洋量子号”(Quantum of the Seas)游轮因船上一名参加“无处巡航”(cruises to nowhere)巡游项目的乘客新冠病毒检测呈阳性而停靠在新加坡滨海湾邮轮中心(Marina Bay Cruise Centre)。胡惠颖——图片由彭博社/盖蒂图片社提供

新加坡还与中国、韩国、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、日本、文莱和德国开通了互惠“绿色通道”,允许一些商务和外交旅客在新冠病毒检测呈阴性后直接入境新加坡,无需隔离。

但新加坡仍未能与其他国家互相开放“旅行安全区”,即允许双方旅客往返旅行,无需隔离。

十一月下旬,新加坡差点就与香港互相开放“旅行安全区”,即允许两地居民免隔离自由往返旅行,但香港出现了第四波新冠疫情,使得“旅行安全区”计划无法如期开展,当局无奈将该计划推迟到2021年。

寄希望于会议

新加坡推出的各种旅行计划为苦苦挣扎的酒店业带来了立竿见影的效果,但他们仍在努力将新加坡打造成一个对旅客安全、开放的地方。随着新冠病毒疫苗问世以及2021年疫情缓解,这一声誉有望给新加坡带来更多的全球会议和活动举办机会。

据旅游局(tourism board)统计,2019年,“会展业”(MICE industry)——会议、奖励旅游、大型会议和展览——为新加坡提供了超过3.4万个就业岗位,并带来了29亿美元收入。

世界经济论坛(World Economic Forum)本月早些时候宣布,年会将在新加坡举行,而非此前宣布的瑞士达沃斯。商界和政界精英定于5月举行聚会。如果年会举办成功,将有益于新加坡经济发展,同时明确表明该城市可以举办全球性大型活动或会议,且不会面临新冠病毒传播风险。

但毫无疑问,新加坡仍在饱受疫情初期经历的最糟糕会议情景的困扰。

一月下旬,新加坡的新冠病毒确诊病例居世界第三(当时为43例),一名英国男子在新加坡参加商务会议时感染了新冠病毒。该男子回到欧洲后,又在那里感染了其他一些人。媒体称此次新加坡会议为“超级传播者活动”(super-spreader event)。

新加坡目前对当地新冠疫情的控制效果证实,新加坡明年可以举办诸如世界经济论坛(WEF)年会此类全球性活动。但新加坡对新冠疫情的控制还远远称不上完美。新加坡政府周二表示,一半新加坡外来务工人员都感染了新冠病毒。

新加坡使用血清学测试来检测抗体(表明感染过新冠病毒),并发现98,289名工人有抗体。政府仍在对6.5万名工人进行血清学检测。结果发现,新加坡的新冠确诊病例数远远超过官方统计的约5.8万例。(财富中文网)

翻译:郝秀

审校:汪皓

Singapore announced on Tuesday it will open a segregated travel lane so "business, official, and high economic value travelers" can visit the city-state quarantine-free by staying in a designated "bubble" facility near the airport.

The facility, Connect@Changi, will feature guest rooms and conference rooms where visitors can meet with other people staying in the bubble. Travel lane visitors will be able to meet with Singapore residents in the bubble—but only with floor-to-ceiling dividers separating them.

The business travel lane is the latest attempt by Singapore's government to jump-start the country's all-important tourism and business travel sectors, which have cratered in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism accounts for 4% of Singapore's gross domestic product—it generated $20 billion in 2019—and the city is normally a top spot for business conferences and trade shows.

Over 19 million international tourists—more than three times the population of the country—visited Singapore in all of 2019, according to the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network. Through October, just 2.7 million visitors had trickled across the border in 2020.

Singapore largely has its coronavirus outbreak under control; it has not logged more than 20 new daily cases since the end of September. But its small size—the island nation spans 280 square miles—means that unlike its geographically bigger Asian peers that have also tamed COVID-19, Singapore can't rely on domestic tourism to make up for the steep drop-off in international visitors.

"We don't have a big domestic tourism market unlike, say, the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong or Australia, and so the impact has been tremendous on our tourism industry," Keith Tan, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, said during a Fortune Global Tech Forum virtual conversation earlier this month.

In desperate bids to revive tourism and business travel, Singapore has rolled out a series of schemes—with varying degrees of success.

Domestic tourism

In June, as Singapore was loosening stay-at-home orders and other COVID-19 restrictions, the Singapore Tourism Board started letting popular tourist attractions reopen in stages and began accepting applications from domestic tour operators to resume business.

The following month, the board launched SingapoRediscovers, a $34 million campaign to boost local tourism, offering residents "staycation" packages, tours, and discounted attractions. That campaign included a $75 voucher for every adult Singaporean to use on hotels and attractions. On Dec. 1, the first day the vouchers were redeemable, the designated booking platforms received $1.4 million in sales.

Singapore’s renowned Jewel Changi Airport features a 16-meter Christmas tree this holiday season. Earlier this year, the Singapore Tourism Board encouraged residents to “travel” domestically by offering vouchers. Suhaimi Abdullah—Getty Images

Singapore's flagship carrier, Singapore Airlines, has also staged creative attempts to boost revenue and get some of its planes back in the air. (In October, it recorded a 98.2% year-on-year decrease in passengers carried.)

The airline toyed with the idea of “flights to nowhere.” Passengers would board a plane that took off from Singapore's Changi Airport, fly around, and then land at Changi again. Airlines in Taiwan and Hong Kong have operated flights to nowhere, with some working better than others. The haze over Hong Kong on the day of the region's inaugural flight to nowhere was so thick that passengers couldn't see the city from the plane.

Singapore Airlines ultimately didn't follow through on the flights to nowhere idea, opting instead in October for a grounded experience that offered customers dinner and a movie on a double-decker A380 plane for $37 to $440. The airline also began offering tours of its training center and use of its flight simulator.

Singapore did allow the Royal Caribbean cruise line to launch "cruises to nowhere" from its harbor, but last week one ill-fated ship returned to port a day early after a passenger tested positive for the coronavirus, despite upgraded air filters, mandatory testing, and other safety protocols that officials had required of the operator. (It's still unclear when or where the passenger contracted the virus.)

Bubbles and lanes

In September, the city-state received the first passengers from Brunei and New Zealand under its Air Travel Pass program.

The scheme lets visitors—including leisure tourists—apply to travel to Singapore and do so without undergoing a 14-day quarantine. Since it launched the plan in September, Singapore has expanded the list of eligible regions to include Australia, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The scheme is unilateral, meaning Singaporeans who want to travel to those countries are still subject to existing coronavirus travel restrictions.

Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas cruise ship docked at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre in Singapore on Dec. 9, 2020, after a passenger on a “cruise to nowhere” tested positive for COVID-19. Ore Huiying—Bloomberg/Getty Images

Singapore also runs reciprocal "green lane" programs with China, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Brunei, and Germany that let some corporate and diplomatic travelers skip quarantine on arrival if they test negative for COVID-19.

But Singapore still hasn't managed to open a travel bubble with another region that would allow tourists from both sides to travel back and forth without quarantining.

In late November, it very nearly pulled off a travel bubble with Hong Kong that would have let residents of each region travel quarantine-free to the other, but a fourth wave of coronavirus cases in Hong Kong thwarted the bubble and forced authorities to delay it until at least 2021.

Conference hopes

Singapore's various travel schemes provide an immediate boost to struggling hospitality businesses, but they are also attempts to establish Singapore as a place that is safe and open to visitors. Such a reputation would bolster the city-state's chances of playing host to global conferences and events as COVID-19 vaccines become available and the pandemic eases in 2021.

The "MICE industry"—meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions—supported more than 34,000 jobs in Singapore and contributed $2.9 billion to the economy in 2019, according to the tourism board.

The World Economic Forum announced earlier this month that it would hold its annual meeting in Singapore instead of Davos, Switzerland. The gathering of business and political elites is scheduled for May. If it takes place successfully, it will be a boon for Singapore's economy and a clear indication that the city can host large global events without risking coronavirus transmission.

But Singapore no doubt is haunted by a worst-case conference scenario it experienced early in the pandemic.

In late January, when Singapore had the third-highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world (which, at the time, meant 43 cases), a British man contracted COVID-19 while attending a business conference in Singapore. The man traveled back to Europe, where he infected several other people. The media dubbed the Singapore conference a "super-spreader event."

Singapore's current control over local coronavirus infections supports the city's argument that it can host global events like WEF's annual meeting next year. But its handling of the virus was far from perfect. Singapore's government said on Tuesday that half of the city's migrant workers have had COVID-19.

Authorities used serology tests to detect antibodies, indicating past infection, and found that 98,289 workers had them. The government is still completing serology tests for 65,000 more workers. The results indicate that Singapore's case count is far higher than the official tally of roughly 58,000.

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