Benefits of Tourism in Singapore

Benefits of Tourism in capital of capital of capital of Singapore1.0Introduction1.1Definition of Tourism fabricationTourism refers to the movement of people from various social and cultural background travelling out of their usual environment staying in a different place for business, personal, or professional reasons. These people ar commonly referred to as tourist. Their actions in the country they get a line affects the local sparing market as they carry out their activities, as most of which may request them to spend m adepty thus increasing the expenditure in the local markets which in turns boosts the gross domestic product of the respective country (Media.unwto.org, 2014b). Therefore the touristry industry is form to supply to the needs and demands of locals and tourists in terms of outputs and services and is defined as such in this report.1.2 What does the touristry industry mean to Singapore?As Singapore lacks natural resources, the touristry industry serves as a n integral factor that acts as a crucial pillar for the economy of Singapore. It carrys an estimated 4% to the gross domestic product of Singapore and a kindred provides jobs to about 160,000 people. The touristry industry serves to reaffirm Singapores position as a global cosmopolitan city that is dynamic, capable to cater to the locals and tourists demands for leisure, entertainment, loose consumers enhanced quality and diversity in terms of leisure creating a wider range of options creating a vibrant living environment that Singaporeans mountain proudly call home (Stb.gov.sg, 2014).2.0Economic Impact epitomeFour types of Economic Impacts that Tourism have on the economy1-Direct portionsTourisms cultivate contributions are results of revenue earned from tourists expenditure by businesses wish well hotels, restaurants, retail outlets, transportation services, cultural / sports and recreational services.2-Indirect contributionsSome of the indirect contributions derive from investment spend from the businesses of the travel and tourism, Government expenditure in the form of investment to improve or enhance the industries.3-Induced contributionsThe direct and indirect employees involved in this sector wherefore in turn contributes to the consumption by spending their wages on food and beverages, recreational activities, clothes, housing and household goods.4-Total contributionsTherefore the total contributions from the direct, indirect and induce contributions will in turn affect the GDP and the employment mark as they affect various factors of the GDP equation which also affects the production rate thus increasing the GDP and employment rate in a situation when there is an amplification in revenue and demand from tourist and with certis paribus assumed.2.1 Contributions to Singapores GDPThe latest press release by UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, shows that expenditure receipts inter depicted object visitors spent on food and beverages, services, en tertainment, accommodations and oftentimes more totaled up to an estimated SGD$ 1,455 billion during 2013. And that the growth rate of receipts consumed a 5% increase from 1035 million during 2012 to 1087 million during 2013(Media.unwto.org, 2014a).According to an economic report by Singapores Travel and Tourism Economic Impact report 2014, in 2013 travel and tourisms direct contribution to Singapores GDP was SGD$ 19.1 billion (5.3% of total GDP) Singapores GDP. Its GDP contributions in 2014 is expected to experience a 5.8% increase, and also to experience a 3.4% increase per annum, as of 2014-2024, to SGDS$ 28.3 billion as of totaling a 5.3% of the total GDP in 2024 (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2014).The abovementioned raw(a)s and report serves as macroeconomic examples that shows how tourism is able to increase consumption of goods through expenditure internationally and in a country. It also shows that tourisms contributions to a nations GDP shows positive signs of growt h thereby explaining why Singapores government is present increased interest in the economic impacts that tourism presents on national and local levels.2.2 Supports Job and Induces InvestmentsThe tourism industry serves to support employment indirectly by providing 295,620 job positions which makes up 8.7% of the total employment in Singapore. Currently, there is a SGD$ 16.2 billion worth of investment in the tourism industry which contributes to 19.7% of total investment which also expects to experience a 5.5% increase this 2014 (Singapore Business Review, 2014b).Therefore if the tourism industry booms and experiences an increase in demand for goods and services, relevant services and manufacturing companies that indirectly contributes to the tourism industry may experience shortage of manpower as a result also creating increased job opportunities for the people in Singapore. Purchases from suppliers may also experience an increase as more products are needed to cater to the deman ds of the people. Also due to increased numbers and demands from tourists, the government of Singapore would therefore have increased reasons to further invest in the travel and tourism industry which will eventually contribute to the GDP equation.2.3 Increase in Tax revenuesThe Singapore government imposes a sin tax on alcohol and tobacco goods on all business. These taxes are paid by firms when importing such goods. Tourists that consume such products while in Singapore increases the demand for such goods which makes businesses increase their imports to meet the demand, allowing the government to collect more sin taxes increasing tax revenues of the government. Given the recent news of a 25% increase in pot likker taxes, the potential revenue that can be earned when tourist or locals consume such products provides substantial reasons for the Singapore government to be interested in investing in tourism sectors in an attempt to attract more tourists, increasing the demand and cons umption for liquor to generate more tax revenues (Straitstimes.com, 2014d).2.4 Attractions and events major events like the Singapore F1 Grand Prix serves to turbo charge economies by attracting tourists from all over the world to Singapore. A 12.6% increase in advance bookings of flights show how such events contribute directly to the tourism industry, not to mention the increase consumption of other services and products like restaurants, hotel accommodations and other necessities (AsiaOne, 2014). Tourist attractions like gardens by the bay, marine biography park, river safari and national art gallery also serve to provide a wider range of activities for tourists to engage in thus increasing the nation of tourists poignant the demand of goods and services and further generating revenues for local businesses(Singapore Business Review, 2014a). Coupled with the Casinos in Marina mouth Sands and resort world makes Singapore attractive to tourists.3.0 Demand Analysis3.1 Changi Airp ort plans for Terminal 4Changi Airport is planning to build a fourth terminal that costs $985 million that is expected to be completed in 2017. The new terminal is expected to allow Changi Airport to cater to 16 million travelers annually (Straitstimes.com, 2014a). A new multi-story car park will also allow it to provide about 1500 parking lots. Coupled with the fact that Changi airport won Skytraxs title for being the best airport, the planned terminal 4 would be able to increase the overall service quality fashioning it a preferred airport resulting in increased demand as preferences is one of the main factors that result in a change of demand (Straitstimes.com, 2014b). The increased population of tourists also causes the demand for goods and services to experience an increase as it corresponds to the population factor regarding change in demand.3.2 Gastronomic TourismGastronomic tourism is an emerging type of tourism that is being developed and packaged into a new tourism trend. This is due to the fact that 1/3 of a tourists expenditure is spent on food and beverages which is a necessity. Gastronomic tourists make experiential trips to countries to visit producers of food, food fairs and gastronomic festivals some of which may even try to learn how to cook the local dishes (World Tourism Organisation 2014, 2014).When Singapore organizes food fairs or events like the Food Hotel Asia 2014 and Wine Spirits Asia at Singapore Expo which ended on 11th April 2014, the demand of such gastronomic tourists to travel to Singapore would experience a significant increase. The events was host to a record of 64,826 international trade attendees from more than a hundred countries and regions which was also a 5.8% increase from 2012 (Foodnhotelasia.com, 2014). Thus showing how events like these are able to affect the numbers and type of tourists increasing the demand of goods and services.3.3 Medical TourismLatest reports from RNCOS, predicts Singapores aesculapian exa m tourism to experience a compound annual growth of 30% within the forecasted period of 2013 to 2017. Singapore is emerging to become a leader in the aesculapian tourism market as it prides itself on its highly skilled healthcare professionals and world class medical infrastructure. The expected growth of medical tourism is also attributed to the fact that Singapore has state of art medical facilities and costs that are affordable in relation to quality(Digitaljournal.com, 2014). Being a preferred location for medical procedures increases the numbers of such tourists. Singapore is increasingly able to attract growing numbers of patients from lesser developed countries like Mongolia and Cambodia along with the current majority of medical tourists from developed or developing countries like Indonesia and Malaysia and the occasional patients from China and India (Mfa.gov.sg, 2014). Patients of such medical tourism also serves to increase the consumption of other services and goods as depending on the respective medical procedures, their stay may take days, weeks or even months.4.0 Environmental Analysis4.1 Safety and securitySingapore recently bedded 2nd out of 99 in a law study. It also ranks top ten in terms of its civil justice systems (WJP Rule of lawfulness Index, 2014). The republic has praised by the World Justice Project for having low crime rates, political violence and high confidence in its law enforcers. This gives tourists a virtuoso of safety and security when they are in Singapore which will further increase the popularity and preference of Singapore as a tourist location giving rise in the numbers of tourist who will contribute to increase consumption of goods and services in the country.4.2 Clean and Green CitySingapore is globally renowned to be a clean and green metropolitan city that is known to be of low pollution levels. Also attractions like Gardens by the Bay strives to attract more people to choose Singapore as a tourist location by a ttempting to create a city surrounded by gardens capturing the essence of a tropical garden city Singapore in an attempts to attract and increase the numbers of eco-tourists(Gardens by the Bay, 2014).5.0 ConclusionThe positive contributions and economic impacts of tourism supports and maintain many jobs and is also expected to create more jobs and further contribute to the countrys GDP in future, therefore Singapores government should implement policies and take a more proactive approach to boost the tourism industry. Actions should be taken to spruce up bridges like the Cavanagh Bridge which is part of Singapore Rivers historical structures (Zaccheus, 2014). They should also continue their efforts to organize events like the F1 Grand Prix, constantly improving the facilities of the Changi airport while making plans to capture and become a first class cruise tourism market by ensuring swift completion of the Marina Bay Cruise Centre as that market is expected to see a growth of up t o 3.8 million passenger by the year 2020 (Kaur, 2014). Lastly further efforts and investments to improve medical facilities in Health City Novena should also be taken in order to attract more medical tourists and also benefit the locals (Straitstimes.com, 2014c). Once these recommendations are implemented, Singapore should be able to attract more tourist and experience the positive economic impacts that the tourism industry can offer.