PARIS, 18 November 2020: The Singapore Tourism Board and Paris&Co are partnering to develop the tourism sectors in Singapore and Paris through exchange programmes between startups and information sharing.
Singapore and France will promote tourism startups and accelerate the development of the tourism sectors in both cities, in what is the first of its kind agreement. It also opens the door for future cooperation between tourism stakeholders.
As part of its digital transformation efforts, STB launched the Singapore Tourism Accelerator last year to refine and test-bed innovative solutions that could benefit the tourism sector.
The Accelerator has set up a highly selective six-month programme that provides the most promising young technology companies with mentorship and opportunities to pilot solutions.
The first and second cohorts attracted more than 300 applications, from over 27 countries. Fifteen selected companies across the two cohorts have already begun piloting their solutions with key tourism stakeholders in Singapore.
For example, RepUp1 a startup based in Gurgaon India is partnering Singapore Flyer, operated by Straco Leisure to leverage data analysis and automation to improve guest engagement.
Bakuun.com2 is partnering with Singapore Airlines to use real-time data to optimise the hotel booking process and reduce costs for its customers.
Building on these successes, the Singapore Tourism Accelerator programme is at the heart of the collaboration between the STB and Paris&Co.
Paris&Co, Paris’ economic development and innovation agency, promotes the dissemination of innovation through the incubation of more than 500 French and foreign startups per year through 15 innovation platforms.
One of them, called Welcome City Lab, is dedicated to urban tourism and includes the world’s first incubator specifically dedicated to this sector. Created in July 2013 by Paris&Co with the support of the City of Paris, BpiFrance, the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau and the General Directorate of Business (DGE), it has welcomed more than 150 startups since its creation and enabled the creation of 1,400 jobs.
It is therefore natural that STB and Paris&Co sought to explore the possibilities of partnership between the Singapore Tourism Accelerator and the Welcome City Lab.
Under this partnership, Singapore Tourism Accelerator alumnus Bakuun.com has been accepted as a member of the Welcome City Lab innovation platform. The membership allows Bakuun.com to gain direct access to the travel tech ecosystem in Paris and scale internationally.
Singapore Tourism Board acting chief technology officer Poh Chi Chuan said: “Covid-19 has changed the way the tourism business works globally. Tourism organisations need to work even closer together than before to come up with innovative solutions to address the challenges brought about by the pandemic. The partnership with Paris&Co will allow us to build connections between our respective tourism ecosystems and facilitate the flow of ideas and co-innovation. We look forward to the insights and new collaborations that will emerge from this partnership to help tourism businesses in our two cities.”
