Building on the three-year Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2020, Trip.com Group and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) are deepening their collaboration across key markets including Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong, while expanding their partnership to include new markets Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia.  

Trip.com Group Chief Marketing Officer Sun Bo met STB’s Assistant Chief Executive for  International Group Juliana Kua in Singapore last month, during which both discussed various topics, including enhancing the areas of collaboration under the three-year MOU signed in late  2020. 

The reopening of borders in the region in recent months has led to a strong growth in Singapore’s  international arrivals – with 418,310 visitors in May, up from 295,100 in April. With pent-up  demand being one of the main drivers of the travel recovery, Trip.com Group will deepen its  collaboration with STB to promote Singapore to travellers from key markets through a series of  initiatives, including marketing campaigns, public relations activities, KOLs’ reviews and  promotions through Trip.com Group’s brands including Trip.com and Ctrip. 

Mr Sun Bo said: “The past two years have been challenging for the tourism industry across Asia,  but we are deeply encouraged and appreciative of Singapore’ssupport for local tourism businesses.  These include the launch of the SingapoRediscovers Vouchers campaign which Trip.com was part  of, as well as the timely announcements relating to the reopening of borders such as the previous  Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme and the current Vaccinated Travel Framework.

“Trip.com Group is excited to deepen our strong relationship and collaboration with STB to facilitate further and promote travel to Singapore. This is a beautiful country which offers different unique experiences for various groups of tourists, and Trip.com Group will launch specific campaigns and  initiatives in the coming months across the key markets where there exists a strong demand for  travel. Based on the recent growths in visitors’ arrivals to Singapore, there is reason to be optimistic  that inbound arrivals will rebound to pre-pandemic levels, and Trip.com Group is committed to  supporting STB in every way possible.” 

Ms Juliana Kua, Assistant Chief Executive (International Group) STB, said: “We have worked  closely with Trip.com Group especially over the last two years during the pandemic to maintain  Singapore’s mindshare amongst regional travellers. With the resumption of travel, we are  delighted to deepen our partnership with Trip.com Group, which has a growing network of services, users and data. We will tap on these to showcase Singapore’s refreshed destination offerings, and  encourage travellers to reimagine travel to Singapore as part of our SingapoReimagine global  marketing campaign.” 

Strengthening connections within Asia 

Leveraging Trip.com Group’s fast-growing global network as a leading international online travel  services provider, and its ability to draw insights on traveller behaviour and needs from its large  user base, both parties will work together on a series of marketing campaigns in several Southeast  Asian markets, as well as South Korea and Hong Kong in the coming months. 

Among various initiatives, Trip.com Group and STB will also curate and deliver engaging content  via Trip.com’s app and website to showcase the Singapore destination story and position the city-state as a safe and compelling destination of choice for travellers.  

Going forward, Trip.com Group and STB will also continue to identify and launch targeted  programmes to promote and position Singapore as an ideal destination for various activities, including as a sanctuary for sustainability, haven for urban wellness, paradise of evolving flavours and world of possibilities for travellers to experience Singapore in new and unexpected ways. 

Consumers in the various markets can also look forward to attractive travel promotions. These will  be rolled out in phases after considering the respective market’s readiness to travel and prevailing travel policies. 

For a start, joint campaigns to promote Singapore as an attractive travel destination will be  launched in South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines over the next week, including attractive  deals and collaborations with travel KOLs such as travel_bellauri and im0gil from South Korea  and CHAILAIBACKPACKER from Thailand who will share their insights and recommendations 

on exciting and unexpected itineraries that visitors can experience in Singapore. 

Mr Sun Bo said: “Singapore has always been known as a food and shopping paradise, and that’s  not a surprise given the wide range of retail offerings and tasty dishes such as Hainanese Chicken  Rice, Laksa and Chili Crab, among others. Yet, Singapore also offers new and unique experiences  such as wellness and nature activities. In addition, many tourism businesses in Singapore had 

refreshed their offerings and introduced new ones during the past two years. Trip.com Group looks  forward to working closely with STB and our local partners to present the beauty of Singapore and  its uniquely local experiences to the global community in the coming months.”