Singapore to be placed on destination wedding map for Indians

Chennai: Singapore

Tourism

is looking at attracting more visitors by promoting the island as a destination for weddings, cruises and overseas excursions this year.

G B Srithar, regional director, India, Middle East and South Asia of

Singapore

Tourism Board said, “We will focus on these elements to encourage more visitors. We used to promote school excursions years ago.” Destination weddings are becoming a thing among Indians, he said, adding, “We want people from Tamil Nadu to hold their weddings in Singapore.”

In a bid to promote educational institutions to take up excursions, Singapore tourism will encourage travel agents to offer incentives, he added. Singapore Tourism Board conducted a roadshow in the city where officials interacted with around 100 travel and tour operators.

“South India is an important region for us with direct flights available from nine cities, including Chennai, Trichy and Coimbatore,” he said.

Cruise tours are a great hit among Indians as they’ve hopped aboard cruises to the island most. “This makes it important for us. Indian cruise travellers are the youngest, with an average age of less that 30 years against the global average of 40. A good number of people who take cruise tours also stay in Singapore.”

Similarly, Indians top the number of tourists who visit

Sentosa

island, he added. India is number one source market for cruise tours and 1.6 lakh people have gone on cruises to Singapore in 2018.

Till October 2019, 1.19 million tourists from India visited Singapore.