SINGAPORE, 13 September 2022: Six top-performing wholesale product managers from Australia, a key inbound source market, participated in a five-day educational trip crafted in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board to stimulate the recovery of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific.
WebBeds continues to focus on stimulating the recovery of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific by teaming up with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to stage a five-day fam trip to the “Lion City”.
The WebBeds X Singapore Tourism Board Familiarisation Trip selected six of WebBeds’ highest-producing wholesale product managers from Australia to visit Singapore.
For many of the participants, this was their first chance to explore this vibrant Southeast Asian city since the removal of travel restrictions, and the immersive itinerary allowed the product managers to find out what’s changed since their last trip.
Australia is one of Singapore’s most important visitor source markets. From January to July 2022, 193,750 Australians travelled to Singapore – the fourth largest market. Before the global pandemic in 2019, Singapore welcomed 1.14 million Australians², so the rebound is underway.
The travel trade is playing a pivotal role in this upward trend; WebBeds data shows a 15% jump in business from Australia compared to the same period pre-pandemic, so this fam trip provided the perfect opportunity to educate further and inspire.
The six travel professionals – Yvonne Chapple, Contracting Manager, Flight Centre; Stephanie Jones, Product Manager, HOOT Holidays; Dennise El-Kazzi, Travel & Product Advisor, Entire Travel; Michael Pollak, Product & Partnerships Manager, Play Travel; Kellie Ann Smith, Product Manager, Room Res; and Jake Chiem, Managing Director of Product, Travelcation Group – were joined by Anthony Valeriano, Manager, and Kerrin Trenorden, Marketing Representative – Victoria, STB Oceania; and Grant Sumich, Head of Commercial, Pacific, WebBeds.
During the trip, they visited Sentosa, including a powerboat adventure, a site inspection of Resorts World Sentosa, a visit to SkyHelix Sentosa and more. Day three was dedicated to culture with a trip to Kampong Gelam, Singapore’s Malay-Arab quarter, the colourful shophouses of Joo Chiat and a cruise on the Singapore River, culminating with an exclusive VIP tour of the famous Singapore Night Safari.
STB Oceania area director Stephanie Yong commented: “ We’re confident that this initiative will help to accelerate the return of more Australians to Singapore in the coming months and even years to come.”
The Singapore fam trip marked the latest phase of WebBeds’ mission to boost global travel and encourage cross-border collaboration. The company will continue re-energising travel, tourism and hospitality in the Asia Pacific with more events in the coming months. Stay tuned for further updates!
