Singapore Tourism Board has unveiled initial steps as part of a wider set of measures to help tourism businesses mitigate the immediate impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus (“nCoV”).
STB said that it will waive licence fees for hotels, travel agents and tourist guides, and defray enhanced cleaning costs of hotels that provided accommodation to confirmed and suspected cases of nCoV infections.
The tourism sector has already been directly affected by nCoV, due to a decline in visitor arrivals, especially from China. Chinese tourists account for around 20 per cent of Singapore’s total international visitor arrivals, with about 3.6 million visitors to Singapore in 2019.
Keith Tan, chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board said: “Over the past week, STB has been in close contact with our tourism partners to understand their difficulties and to assess the impact. We know the situation is likely to persist, and recognise we need to move quickly to support the industry and build confidence. STB will continue to identify targeted and effective ways to support the tourism industry so that they are well-positioned to grow swiftly once we start to recover.”
As part of this initial package, hotels that provided accommodation to suspected and confirmed cases of nCoV infections will get help with their environmental cleaning and disinfection costs. STB will cover up to 50 per cent of third-party professional cleaning fees, capped at $20,000 per establishment for hotels with confirmed cases; and $10,000 per establishment for hotels with suspected cases. This will be backdated to 23 Jan, when the first case of nCoV infection in Singapore was detected. Applications will open between 10 Feb and 30 April, following which STB will assess the situation to see if further support is required. Hotels can email [email protected] for more information.
The Hotels Licensing Board will waive licence fees for hotels for the rest of 2020. Applicants can email [email protected]. Similarly, travel agents and tourist guides whose licenses are due for renewal in 2020 will not need to pay to renew their licence fees.
Full details of the overall package of relief measures will be announced at the national Budget 2020 on 18 Feb.
Featured image credit: Mike Enerio on Unsplash
