Sentosa sees 18% increase in visitors

by Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE - The number of people visiting Sentosa rose to 9.2 million in the first half of this year. This represents an 18 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, Sentosa Leisure Group said.

Sentosa Development Corporation chief executive Mike Barclay said this puts the island on track to register 20 million visitors for the year.

Excluding Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), locals made up 49 per cent of visitors to the island, while four in 10 leisure and business tourists who visited Singapore also visited Sentosa.

Asian countries, in particular Indonesia, The Philippines and Malaysia, remain big growth markets for Sentosa.

The Sentosa Leisure Group said more options will be added to the island's range of leisure and lifestyle offerings in the coming months to position it as a leisure and lifestyle destination.

For example, Palawan Beach will feature an 800m landscaped walkway that connects restaurants and the food court, and is scheduled to open next year.

The centrepiece of the Palawan Walk is a water-play area built around the replica of a giant pirate ship, which also houses a children's club and a family restaurant.

A Family Entertainment Centre will also be built on Palawan Beach to offer more family-themed activities in the area.

Plans for Sentosa's intra-island cableway, which will enhance connectivity between the different clusters of attractions on the island, is on track for completion in 2014.

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TODAY FILE PHOTO

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Singapore’s New Resorts Stealing All The Thunder

AFP Relax – Sat, Apr 9, 2011 1:25 AM SGT

Singapore Zoological Gardens

Fresh from recording record numbers of visitors in 2010, Singapore's tourism chiefs have turned the focus on to exactly who is going to see what when they come to town.

And it seems the city state's flash new resort's are now unsurprisingly grabbing the lion's share of arrivals.

The Association of Singapore Attractions has just released the results of its first survey into arrivals at its individual members, which include destinations such as the massive new developments on the city's Sentosa Island as well as more traditional places such as the Singapore Zoo.

A total of 31 attractions were polled in February for the survey, which revealed that overall these places attracted more than 34 million visitors last year, a rise of 56.3 per cent year on year.

Overall, Singapore attracted a record number of 11.6 million visitors last year.

Benefiting most from the rise was Sentosa, which last year saw the official rolling out of attractions at the US$4.4 billion (three billion euro) Resorts World Sentosa, which include a casino-resort and Asia's first Universal Studios theme park.

Last year visitor numbers to Sentosa soared 185 per cent - from the 2009 mark of 6.2 million to 17.7 million in 2010

Attractions outside Sentosa suffered an overall drop in numbers of 1.2 per cent, according to the survey, but Singapore's city centre - which features a selection of museums and art galleries - saw a drop of 4.4 per cent.

A spokesman for the Sentosa Leisure Group, which oversees the island, claimed to Asiaone.com that the destination was however more than just a collection of fancy hotel and rides. He said "easy connectivity between attractions, reduced queuing times and ample retail and food-and-beverage outlets are other factors which have made Sentosa a hit."

The Singapore government has injected billions of dollars into developing its tourism attractions over the past five years as it looks to rival other traditional regional destinations such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Singapore's main source of visitors has long been nearby Indonesia and Malaysia but more and more it is marketing itself as a place for Chinese tourists to visit.

Last year an estimated 1.2 million Chinese visited Singapore - a rise of 25 per cent from 2009 - in what was seen as a worrying trend in Hong Kong in particular as that has long been the number one destination for China's travelers, last year attracted 22.7 from across the border.




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Weekend Cruise To Nowhere On SuperStar Virgo 2nd Apr - 4th Apr 2010

Last Weekend Cruise To Nowhere on SuperStar Virgo 2/4 – 4/4/2020

Coincidentally, 2nd April happens to be Good Friday. At the same time, it is also the last weekend cruise to nowhere on StarCruise Line SuperStar Virgo. This business decision was made with the opening of the Integrated Resorts in Singapore. No longer will SuperStar Virgo be known as the casino cruise it is popularly known as now especially during the weekends.

Singapore Integrated Resort - Marina Sands

Resorts World Sentosa another Integrated Resort

Being a public holiday due to Good Friday, we arrived at the Singapore Harbourfront Cruise Centre at 1730 hrs. Fortunately for us, we managed to get a car park lot as soon as we entered the carpark as there was a sign along the way indicating that the carpark in Harbourfront was full.

After checking in, we arranged for our luggage to be sent to our cabins and went to the food court in Harbourfront for a drink before going through customs and immigration. Upon boarding the holiday cruise ship, we headed directly to Deck 7 Grand Piazza for the welcome drinks before proceeding to the Mediterranean Buffet Restaurant for dinner.

On the way to the holiday cruise ship

Checking in on board the SuperStar Virgo

Welcome drinks for guests in Balcony Class

Cheers!

With a passenger load of 2200, this holiday cruise ship was pretty full. We had to sit at the Mediterranean Terrace which is non air-conditioned. There was a wide range of food to choose from and the food standard was quite good.

Variety of food to choose from

Not forgetting those with sweet tooth

And some fruits as well

Easter bunnies on sale at the Grand Piazza

View from the Mediterranean Terrace

The Sentosa Integrated Resort

After dinner, we found ourselves back in the cabin. 2000 hrs signaled the start of the Safety Drill, a compulsory safety exercise for all passengers. SuperStar Virgo set sail just before 2100 hrs.

Once Mother was all settled into bed, our group proceeded to the casino. With only one table for Casino War, it was over-crowded and we decided to hit the jackpot instead for awhile before retiring for the night.

So ended Day 1 on board the Cruise To Nowhere. For future weekend cruises on this holiday cruise ship SuperStar Virgo, there would be stopovers in Malaysia instead of just cruising in international waters. Since the casino can only operate in international waters, this will no longer be a wholly casino cruise as it has been during the weekends for the past few years.




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Singapore to open second casino

AFP - Tuesday, April 27


SINGAPORE, April 26, 2010 (AFP) – Singapore throws open the doors of its second casino Tuesday as part of a 5.5 billion US dollar complex built by US gaming giant Las Vegas Sands.

Marina Bay Sands, located next to the financial district, will open at the locally auspicious time of 3:18 pm (0718 GMT). The number eight sounds like the word for prosperity in Chinese.

Singapore gave the green light for casino gambling in 2005, setting off a flurry of construction that went ahead despite the city-state slipping into recession in 2008 because of the global financial crisis.

Its first casino, the 4.4 billion US-dollar Resorts World Sentosa, opened for business on February 14.

Marina Bay Sands was originally set to open at the end of 2009 but faced repeated delays caused by a number of factors, including material and labour shortages and financial problems due to the latest global economic downturn.

Tuesday's opening includes the casino and 963 out of 2,560 hotel rooms, a portion of the shopping mall, some restaurants, an exhibition centre and the events plaza.

The remaining hotel rooms and suites, a skypark and more shops will open on June 23, while a museum, theatres and other stores will start operations later in the year, the management said.

Officials hope the casinos will help Singapore achieve a target of attracting 17 million visitors a year generating over 21 billion US dollars by 2015, boosting the services sector and reducing the role of manufacturing in the economy.

Marina Bay Sands is designed to cater to the corporate and convention crowd while Resorts World is aimed at families.

Built by Malaysia's Genting Group, the Resorts World complex includes Southeast Asia's only Universal Studios movie theme park, hotels, restaurants and convention facilities.

Las Vegas Sands also has major operations in the Asian gaming haven of Macau.



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Tickets to Universal Studios Singapore opening day sold out

Universal Studio tickets sold out for opening day on 18th March!

SINGAPORE: Tickets for Universal Studios Singapore theme park went on sale at 9am on Wednesday, and those for the opening day on 18 March were sold out.

Resorts World Sentosa added that tickets for the first weekend were also selling fast.

The opening of the theme park has been much anticipated by both locals and tourists.

But the strong demand for tickets on the first day of sales caused some thrill seekers to experience difficulties when buying online or over the phone.

As a result, some resorted to going down to the box office at Resorts World Sentosa to get their tickets.

MediaCorp tried all day to buy tickets online, but the website either hung or refused to load. Similarly, calls to the booking hotline went unanswered.

Robin Goh, assistant director for communications at Resorts World Sentosa, said: "We do apologise to our guests for the inconvenience caused. But we have opened up more phone lines as well, as of 12pm this afternoon. And that will continue for the rest of today and hopefully the problems get solved tomorrow."

Those unable to buy tickets online or get through the hotline can send a purchase request via email. They can expect a response within 48 hours.

Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, March 11




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