Eventful Cities. The Case of Singapore

Table Of Contents

Introduction and Literature Review

The Case of Singapore
Singapore’s Events Strategies and Delivery
The Effectiveness and Evaluation of Singapore’s Strategies

Conclusion

References

Appendix 1 Statistics of Tourism of Singapore

Appendix 2 Logo of Youth Olympic Games Singapore 2010

Introduction and Literature Review

Nowadays, events and festivals are an essential part of city life due to the fact that events signify as a way of selling the city as a product by attracting tourists, investments and industries, which could be done by hosting different kind of events on national or city levels, such as Singapore Arts Festival and Hungry Ghost Festival, or worldwide basis, for instance the Olympic Games and the World Expo (Popescu and Corboş, 2012; Liu and Chen, 2007). Therefore, distinction is significant for cities as well as countries due to the increase of global competition and the rapid advance of the global economy (Anholt, 2006; Richards and Wilson, 2004). Also, Getz et al. (1997) stated that events accelerate tourism and urban development, strengthen place consciousness, mould city image, promote place prestige, constitute the traveling product system as an organic traveling attraction, and draw the local infrastructure construction as the catalyst to promote the city status (as cited by Liu and Chen, 2007, p.256; Ooi, 2010). In addition, events offer a community to stay united, to work together and to bloom as well as increasing local resident’s self-confidence and sense of pride (Popescu and Corboş, 2012; Liu and Chen, 2007).

However, there are different approaches cities could integrate depending on the use of events in cities and its strategic vision: the entrepreneurial city, the eventful city, and the creative city, which are the key concepts to the case of Singapore.

The entrepreneurial city uses events as ephemeral while generating symbolic capital and develops strategies for image creation and event bidding as well as continuing renegotiation of relationships with its citizens and in its approach to cultural planning (Richards and Palmer, 2010). An eventful city utilises an integrated approach to the relationship between the city and its events, which includes developing an effective stakeholder network, creating a strategic vision, programming the eventful city, marketing events to public and audiences, monitoring outcomes and ensuring sustainability (Richards and Palmer, 2010). The creative city accentuates the importance of the creative industries and the creative class while having the potential to tie urban planning, economic development and arts and culture policy together that could attract creative talent (Richards and Palmer, 2010; Markusen, 2006).

So, in what way does Singapore utilise events to become an eventful city, the entrepreneurial city and/or the creative city? Also, how did Singapore integrate the events strategy and its delivery? Lastly, did the implementation of the events strategy and its delivery leave an impact or legacy for Singapore?

The Case of Singapore

Introducing Singapore

Singapore located in Southeast Asia, between Malaysia and Indonesia, with a land area of 714.3 square kilometres and is an urbanised archipelago of 63 islands of which Singapore Island itself is the most important (Ministry of Communications and Information, 2014; Singapore Tourism Board, 2013d; World Tourism Organization and Tourism Australia, 2013). Also, Singapore’s total population is approximately 5.3 million and has a multi-racial society consisting of four major races: Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian (Ministry of Communications and Information, 2014; Singapore Tourism Board, 2013d). Moreover, Singapore offers not only cultural precincts, such as Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam, but also diversified sports, leisure, arts, media, retail, culinary, nature, entertainment and events in which Singapore strives to enhance the quality of life and its attractiveness as a great place to live and visit (Singapore Tourism Board, 2013d; Economic Strategies Committee, 2010). These diverse offerings are significant due to the fact that Singapore is reliant on tourism and a decline in the tourist spending will have an impact on the other sectors of the economy. Yet, Singapore has been a success as a tourist destination with the assistance of promotion, diversification of the tourism product, upgrading of infrastructure, improving living standards, desirable shops and facilities, personal safety as well as the unobvious litter, traffic congestion and overcrowding (Ooi, 2001). Nevertheless, the Singaporean government has recognised that Singapore lacks natural resources and historical tourism attractions due to the destruction of heritage sites for redevelopment purposes in the 1950s and 1960s, which had a detrimental impact upon the potential tourism product as the possible heritage attractions has been weakened (Foley et al., 2006). Tourism products entail attractions centred on nature, cultural heritage, the arts, events and festivals, and popular entertainment that are aligned with the newest tastes and trends (Henderson, 2007). Regarding the events and festivals, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of Singapore (2013) has shown that in 2012 8,530 arts and cultural events have been held and would likely to grow from 2013 and onwards.

Therefore, Singapore has implemented several schemes and strategies to attract tourism by proactively using events and festivals.

Singapore’s Events Strategies and Delivery

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) implemented the Tourism 2015 strategy that has a two billion Singaporean dollar Development Fund for the development of new tourism products, attract major business and leisure events and build up the necessary capabilities and infrastructure in partnership with the private sector (Henderson, 2007). Also, STB (2013a; 2013b) has the Leisure Events Fund, which supports sustainable quality events with the objective to strengthen Singapore’s profile and position as a compelling leisure destination, drive visitor spend as well as the development of precincts and key tourism sectors, for example arts, entertainment, sports, retail and dining.

Further, the STB established the Business Events in Singapore scheme to enhance business event experience due to the economic growth in Singapore’s Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) sector that is supported by the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau which encourages the business events industry to support and grow quality events and catalyse the innovation of new content (Singapore Tourism Board, no date). The MICE sector held significant international events, such as the Global Leadership Summit, World Conference on Tobacco and Health, and the World Architecture Festival that was relocated from Barcelona to Singapore in 2012 while in 2014 international events, such as World Cities Summit, Singapore International Water Week, Singapore Air Show and World Architecture Festival will be held (Singapore Tourism Board, no date).

Furthermore, Singapore is currently implementing the creative industries development strategy and has been categorised into three broad groups: arts and culture consist of performing arts, visual arts, literary arts, photography, crafts, libraries, museums, galleries, archives, auctions, impresarios, heritage sites, performing arts sites, festivals and arts supporting enterprises; design consists of advertising, architecture, web and software, graphics, industrial product, fashion, communications, interior and environmental; and media consists of broadcast, digital media, film and video, recorded music and publishing (ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002). Focusing on the arts and culture sector, the key players are the National Arts Council (NAC), National Heritage Board (NHB), National Library Board (NLB), and STB. However, it is noted that STB approaches art development from a profit angle concerning tourism and business while others tend to look at arts from a non-profit angle (Ooi, 2006; ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002). Within this strategy is the Renaissance City that Singapore desires to achieve by becoming a highly innovative and multi-talented global city for arts and culture. Therefore, MITA agencies are required to look at the development of arts from a holistic perspective to contribute towards the development of creative industries as well as Singapore’s social development (ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002).

The ‘Renaissance City 2.0’ has three strategies, which are divided in sub-strategies. For events and festivals, the ‘Work with Community Development Councils (CDCs) to Develop Creative Towns’ and ‘Transform Singapore Art Series into Singapore Biennale to Enhance Singapore’s International Profile’ sub-strategies are significant (ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002). The ‘Work with CDCs to Develop Creative Towns’ has one of the objectives to promote community bonding, local pride and participation through arts and cultural events and festivals, and the employment of the newest technologies (ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002). An example of an event is the National Orange Ribbon Celebrations in July to celebrate multiculturalism since 2006, which is organised by OnePeople.sg while collaborating with CDCs, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education and Self-Help Groups (OnePeople.sg, 2012). This is also a political goal for Singapore, such as the development of social cohesion and improving brand image of Singapore. The ‘Transform Singapore Art Series into Singapore Biennale to Enhance Singapore’s International Profile’ sub-strategy concerns with important national visual arts event showcasing top local and international artists (ERC Services Subcommittee, 2002). An example of an event is the Singapore Arts Festival, organised by NAC and supported by STB that started in 1977 and its objective was to direct ethnic harmony in Singapore has evolved from a national arts activity into an iconic festival (Kawasaki, 2013; Singapore Tourism Board, 2013c). Currently, Singapore Arts Festival’s purpose is to inspire diverse audiences through great artistic experiences based on seven characteristics: quality, inspiring, aspirational, innovative, engaging, collaborative and distinctive (National Arts Council, 2013a). The festival displays visual arts, dance, theatre and music, which is themed differently each year (Singapore Tourism Board, 2013c). Thus, the Singapore Arts Festival has grown more or less organically.

Singapore is becoming more active in bidding of sporting events, for instance the Youth Olympic Games between 14 and 18 year old athletes was held in 2010, the Formula One Grand Prix held since 2008 until 2017 (2013a) and the Women Tennis Association (WTA) Championship will be held from 2014 till 2019 (Ian, 2013). These events are footloose recurrent events approaches due to the fact that the events are circulating regularly between different cities (Richards and Palmer, 2010). The Singapore Sports Council (SSC) and STB supports WTA Championship organised by World Sport Group (Ian, 2013), Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) organised by Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee and the Formula One Grand Prix organised by Formula One authorities (Henderson et al., 2010). Additionally, Singapore won the YOG bid because all sport venues are located within the city, had presented to be the least risk compared to other candidature cities and particularly the ability to deliver the YOG within the short timeframe of two and a half years (Shipway and Fyall, 2012).

Notably, the SSC’s (2014) mission is to reach out and serve communities across Singapore with passion and pride through innovative, fun and meaningful sporting experiences. Nonetheless, the objectives of the STB are to make the world see Singapore in a new light by adding a fresh sense of excitement while enriching experiences with the use of world-class events through the Singapore brand (Singapore Tourism Board, 2013a; Henderson et al., 2010).

From 2004 till 2009 Singapore branded its city with ‘Uniquely Singapore’ by distinguishing itself with distinct identity through people, landscapes and place in world history by combining old traditions with innovations. The promotion campaign was ‘Beyond Words’ showing the depth, scale and mix of experiences that reflect what Singapore offers to tourists and was promoted on television and audio spots, press models, posters and billboards located on the target markets (Popescu and Corboş, 2011; Henderson, 2007). Complementary campaigns were launched: ‘Singapore – Where Great Things Happen,’ ‘Make it Singapore,’ and ‘2009 Reasons to enjoy Singapore’ (Popescu and Corboş, 2011). However, from 2008 the numbers of tourists decreased as well as the average revenue spend by tourists due to the economic crisis. Also, the changing environment and increasing digitalization were the motives for Singapore authorities to update the image relating to new and challenging travel experiences (Popescu and Corboş, 2011). Therefore, the launch of the new brand ‘YourSingapore’ in 2010 established three objectives: take advantage of the capital created by the brand ‘Uniquely Singapore;’ use an emotional connection that visitors experience in Singapore; and connect with potential visitors through digital space (Singapore Tourism Board, 2013e; Popescu and Corboş, 2011). The new brand has been promoted through various channels: the website, television and events. The effects of rebranding were an increase of visitors and increase of revenues from tourism, which are shown in table 1 and table 2 in Appendix 1 (Singapore Tourism Board, 2014; Popescu and Corboş, 2011).

The Effectiveness and Evaluation of Singapore’s Strategies

Major or international one-off events such as the Singapore Arts Festival, Formula One Grand Prix and the Summer YOG have several impacts and the ability to leave a legacy.

The Singapore Arts Festival in 2008 had only 35,000 visitors due to pricier tickets and the programme (Ooi, 2011). However, in 2012 the festival received more than 220,000 audiences and visitors in total over 16 days including the Festival Village, which is a centre allowing post-show performances and opportunities for audiences to interact with artists that attracted over 120,000 visitors (National Arts Council, 2013a; National Arts Council, 2013b). Also, community projects were able to connect with audiences on a more personal level and were inspiring and memorable. This shows that state support, such as NAC, is vital for the growth of a thriving arts and cultural sector, but the Singaporean government must take the role as a facilitator assisting artists, arts companies and even private individuals and companies with their ideas as a bottom-up approach instead of what the government currently does as a top-down approach by thinking or wanting the arts scene to be (Singh, 2013; Lim, 2012).

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