Keith Tan leaves on a high, Melissa Ow returns to the fold
I remember commenting to someone at the recent Tourism Industry Conference in Singapore that it sounded like Keith Tan, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, was making his farewell speech to the industry.
There was something about his manner on stage – more relaxed, more forthright – and his words that struck me as someone ready to let go and wanting to leave the industry with some hard truths and deep thinking about the future of Singapore tourism. (I covered his speech in this report.)
He seemed extra earnest as he urged industry members to think deep about the meaning of “Quality Tourism”, a strategy launched 10 years ago.
“The strategy is a logical step for us as Singapore’s fundamental economic realities mean that we will never be a low cost destination for tourism. These realities also mean that we cannot keep on attracting more and more visitors to Singapore, year after year. We face land and manpower limitations. And soon, we will also have to deal with carbon constraints.”
Even though it is customary for STB chief executives to move on after four to five years, Tan’s tenure, when he vacates the CEO chair in May, is all the more significant because he presided over the darkest time in Singapore’s tourism when it went to zero.
He came into office in 2018 when tourism was at an all-time high and presided over two exciting years before things came to a crashing halt. I remember my first podcast interview with him at the start of the pandemic – April 2020 – when everything was uncertain and Singapore had just closed its borders to China for the first time in history.
He had then speculated that perhaps it would be a year of two halves, but by September, he had to concede in a public forum that “there is a long road to recovery ahead” and “frankly, from where I stand, I am not sure I see any light at the end of the tunnel”.
“We must be prepared for a long winter,” he said.
And so he led STB through a full pivot when it turned its full attention on domestic, launching the SingapoRediscover campaign, encouraging locals to explore their own country and helping industry stakeholders through their toughest times.
Of course, there were critics but overall, the programme was a success in that it spurred a whole new wave of product development and built a more robust domestic tourism base for future resilience. In fact, the new products created during Covid form the heart of the new SingapoRewards programme launched for foreign visitors to experience for free.
Fast forward two years and Singapore’s come out on top, hailed as the poster child of Covid recovery. It exceeded one million arrivals in March, a key milestone, and this year, is projected to recover to about 12-14m arrivals, with tourism receipts of S$18 to S$21 billion, and full recovery to 2019 levels is projected by 2024.
There’s no doubt that Tan has been through the wringer. But he’s shown his mettle and weathered the storm and led the industry through an existential time – and now he’s leaving on a high.
In this WiT podcast interview in January 2023, he spoke about one key lesson learned from the pandemic – tourism cannot be seen through the lens of just numbers, but for the soft power it can wield in societies, from mental well-being of individuals to claiming its place in the world.
“It is important for us to emphasise and reiterate that tourism cannot just be seen in terms of raw visitor numbers … tourism was already being regarded as a problem in some countries, because of raw focus on numbers.
“We should not go back to that – we have to focus on helping visitors have a better experience in our destinations like Singapore. And I think that’s one of the ways that we can help further that conversation amongst other cities around the world.”
He will still have oversight of tourism in his new role as Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Trade – so the industry will continue to benefit from his experience.
Taking over the reins is Melissa Ow, who is no stranger to STB. Prior to her secondment in June 2020 to the Economic Development Board (EDB) as executive vice president for customer experience, marketing & investment facilitation group, she held several positions in STB with the last position as deputy chief executive, where she headed STB’s Experience Development Group and the Corporate Group.
Ow returns to an organisation and industry she knows well and loves, and her return is welcomed by an industry that knows it needs a steady and experienced hand at the wheel to bring the mothership, not just back to full recovery, but into a new future.
