The maiden virtual roadshow by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) concluded last evening with a record number of participants. It was a very interactive platform with one to one meetings with 15 key Singapore exhibitors and over 500 buyers from the GCC region. In his opening remarks, GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia (IMESA) Singapore Tourism welcomed everyone to the first ever virtual roadshow 2020 for Middle East under exceptional circumstances stated, “In 2019, Singapore welcomed 131,000 visitors from GCC states, which was a growth of 7.7% growth of over 2018, UAE and Saudi Arabia continued to be the top two outbound markets to Singapore. This was not possible without your support we thank you and look forward to continue working with you in promote destination Singapore and welcome visitors from the region when the timing is right. For Singapore tourism, this is the biggest challenge we have faced in our 56 year history and we are doing our very best to navigate the storms and emerge strong. For the Middle East we continue with our growing connections achieving together trade engagement theme and given the COVID-19 circumstances we have also embarked on an initiative to show solidarity and unity with the travel trade fraternity in these trying times #UnitedWeStand.”
Beverly Au Yong, Area Director, Singapore Tourism Board, Middle East shared, “The roadshow is part of STB’s regional B2B engagement effort, under the theme #UnitedWeStand with focus on the GCC countries. It aims to provide one-to-one networking and foster business opportunities for the local travel trade stakeholders with Singapore service providers. This platform will also allow the Singapore service providers to share the key initiatives taken by their organisations, under the government’s directive, once the borders are open for international visitors.”