Tourism Roles & Economic Value

Singapore Biennale 2006 was a great success. With 95 artists and art collectives showing 195 artworks at 19 venues, the number of visitors totaled to about 883,000. This year, word got around the globe and I believe that are more than 883,000 visitors. I was talking to Mr Tripp (my tour guide) and he said some of his friends traveled all the way here just to attend the Biennale. They say that though Singapore may be small, but the talents that we have, the events that we plan are just too exciting to be missed.

Moreover, a friend of mine went to the Biennale on a weekday, and then accompanied me on a weekend. She said that the crowd on a weekday is no different from the crowd on a weekend. Thus, we both concluded that Biennale is not greatly affected by peak and non-peak periods. In the case of Singaporeans attending, perhaps weekends have more local crowds. But in the case of tourists, they travel here especially for the event, and I believe they took time off their busy schedule thus making up for the weekday crowds. This clearly shows that Singapore Biennale is huge enough an event to play an important tourism role for Singapore’s tourism industry.

At the same time, we all know that tourists will definitely spend money when they stay in Singapore. Though the Biennale does not cost much and does not make a big difference in generating income for the country, think about the lodging, food and beverage, entertainment, transport etc. To get around town, to survive, to have a shelter above their heads, all these generate money. A recent survey actually showed that tourists in Singapore spend an average of $1000 per day when they are here, inclusive of hotels.

Therefore, in the big picture, Singapore Biennale 2008 indeed carries a big economic value with it. Not only does it focus on developing arts in Singapore, it fully utilizes the time of year, where there are no other big events in Singapore is going on, to continue bringing in substantial number of tourists. This keeps the revenue and tourism receipts rolling, making Singapore a peak period all year round.