Commentary: What the Singapore tourism vouchers are really about
SINGAPORE: Whoever said Singaporeans are a disengaged agglomeration with few views on national policy matters should see the tide of responses to the latest breadstuff-and-butter saga that is the Regime's COVID-19 assistance for the tourism sector.
When news that Singaporeans aged 18 and above could look forward to receiving S$100 SingapoRediscover vouchers, some netizens took to social media to requite their two cents as to how the scheme could accept been amend.
"Why not cash?" said one. What almost NTUC vouchers, suggested a few.
And what about the less mobile elderly who can't enjoy these activities? Or helping those who might have lost their jobs during this pandemic?
READ: Tourism companies preparing strategies to do good from SingapoRediscovers vouchers
READ: Why expect for your Southward$100 tourism vouchers? Our picks of discounted activities to savour right now
SITUATING LOCAL TOURISM VOUCHERS
The news generated a tsunami of feedback that would brand the Authorities'south public engagement unit REACH tear upward. Except that fifty-fifty Achieve might non take foreseen feedback to come then fast and furious.
A few swept in to offer perspective amid a barrage of puzzled netizens wondering aloud why they had to wait until December when the initiative was offset announced in August and whether more thought had been given to how public coffers could exist better employed to benefit people.
"The S$100 is non about you lot only just to revive the sector," said one.
"The initiative is to aid boost the tourism industry ... we should be grateful for what nosotros receive," a sternly worded annotate read, with a metaphorical wag of the finger.
Indeed, here's a first lesson for all us shadow Cabinet wannabes and keen observers on public policy: This i'southward not about us.
It's about the economic system.
THE CORONAVIRUS Plummet OF TOURISM
The coronavirus has battered the global economy but there are few sectors that take come nether heavy fire every bit much as travel.
In that location were early on alert signs of an impending plummet in early February just earlier Singapore went into DORSCON Orange - when big boys like Lockheed Martin and more than lxxx other aerospace companies pulled out of the lucrative Singapore Airshow and organisers more than halved public tickets.
An issue whose last edition generated S$343 meg alone in spending may have been one of Singapore's earliest casualties.
READ: Commentary: Singapore Airshow in a COVID-xix outbreak – smaller but not quite
READ: Commentary: The outlook for Singapore Airlines has gone from bad to worse
Today, the Singapore Tourism Lath'due south judge in February that tourism would fall by 25 to xxx per cent now looks incredibly optimistic in this massive upheaval wrought past COVID-19.
More than than S$one billion has been doled out to salvage jobs and businesses in travel and tourism these past vii months through four Singapore Budgets and an additional circular of support measures announced in Baronial by Deputy Prime number Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Rebates and rental waives for aircraft through an Aviation Sector Back up Parcel that has been enhanced as well every bit property tax waivers for hotels, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) bounds and ports of call, on summit of a vast assortment of broad-based assistance schemes, have been availed to firms in this sector.
A SLOW, PATCHY RECOVERY
Fifty-fifty so, it's articulate changes are afoot and Singapore is shifting gears. Every bit daily community cases ease up and healthcare capacities in contact tracing and testing were strengthened these past few months, operators in this sector watched with apprehension the Government'south moves to carefully open up up travel.
Announcements of Reciprocal Green Lanes for business organisation and official travel with selected countries including Nippon and Negara brunei darussalam and the Periodic Commuting Arrangement with Malaysia in August were warmly welcomed.
The unilateral opening of borders is a small cautious step that can resuscitate Changi Airport and prove the world Singapore is open for business, said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung during an proclamation in August easing more restrictions. He recognised the need for more travel bubbles.
In the same vein, opening upwardly applications for MICE events with more than than 250 people may also prove to be an of import stepping rock to welcoming tourists back to Singapore once more.
While these moves to gingerly peel dorsum restrictions on travel are to be lauded, even so, the drop in foreign visitors may be Singapore's reality for a while. Changi Airdrome has seen just 86,000 passengers passing through in July, a 98.v per cent twelvemonth-on-year drop.
READ: Commentary: Tourism's collapse could worsen the economic crisis we confront
READ: Commentary: We tin can't relieve the Sentosa Merlion, but can sure protect other aspects of Singapore's heritage
Even a government of rigorous testing to supervene upon quarantine requirements could still make the revival of travel challenging, when fearfulness of communicable COVID-19 and other countries' travel restrictions volition keep to dampen demand, experts told CNA.
Airlines accept information technology bad in this pandemic but airports have it worse, NUS Business Schoolhouse Acquaintance Professor Nitin Pangarkar pointed out in a commentary for CNA.
And in this picture, it seems tourist attractions in Singapore may have fatigued the shortest straw and will demand greenbacks infusions to stay afloat.
Enter the local tourism vouchers.
MERITORIOUS MOVE
In industrial policy, governments can provide assist to businesses in a range of ways to fulfill specific policy objectives - whether in picking winning sectors and firms to advance growth, or incentivising hesitant companies to make sure difficult moves.
And quite apart from the broad-based measures similar the Jobs Back up Scheme given to all firms beyond sectors, in Singapore's second phase of supporting businesses through the coronavirus there are signs the Government is shifting towards a more than targetted approach to make smart bets to help the best performers instead of spreading aid somewhat uniformly across a sector that could inadvertently prop up zombies.
Newer schemes like the Jobs Growth Incentive, rolled out in Baronial, which aims to support hiring in specific expanding sectors like ICT, financial services and biomedical sciences, show how transformation is always on the national agenda.
When the global economic winds selection upwardly, we want to brand sure nosotros have our best sails that can take hold of them ready.
READ: Commentary: Singapore'due south steady 7-calendar month programme to get the economy back on track
READ: Commentary: How Singapore can thrive in a earth past top trade, with more than regional blocs
What does this have to practice with the vouchers you ask?
It'southward like giving every recipient a Due south$100 vote for the best tourist attraction. Parents might want to spend it on annual Zoo passes, while seniors might prefer a trip to the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay and youths might want to finally try diving.
Attractions that resonate with more Singaporeans will go a larger slice of the Southward$320 million pie, which includes subsidies for children and youth tickets.
In a manner, bout companies and local attractions have now been entered into an exercise where government tin can track how they're doing with Singaporeans and reward them proportionately.
It's an exam few may accept signed up for when tourist attractions are mostly aimed at drawing foreign visitors. Only if hotels take already geared themselves to focus on the staycation crowd, there's no reason attractions can't practice the same.
In fact, the challenge ahead for the Ministry of Trade and Industry may be to review the efficacy of such schemes, in particular whether information technology keeps tour companies and operators open for a few months only to shutter one time the pot dries up, and appraise whether these funds do generate a multiplier result in encouraging Singaporeans to spend more the Southward$100.
Mind: Rethinking the office of national carriers while saving Singapore Airlines
READ: Commentary: Flights to nowhere heighten bigger questions virtually Singapore Airlines' future
More ABOUT Us THAN Nosotros KNOW
It's understandable if Singapore netizens, concerned about the economic outlook and job security, just desire more specific help for their families and daily needs and take suggestions on how government assistance tin can achieve those aims.
The coronavirus has upended our lives – with uncertainty over incomes, anxiety over communicable the virus and worries about what tomorrow might bring.
Vouchers that encourage united states to holiday can seem at odds with the mood, when Singapore Airlines only announced 4,300 job losses amid a decades high national unemployment rate.
Yet, I hope hardworking Singaporeans do discover some space in this stressful season to accept a intermission and spend quality time with loved ones.
And if you're at information technology, why not a trip to the Oceanarium or a visit to a kelong which can go a long mode? There is much at stake when the tourism sector employs 65,000 people including ordinary folk like yous and I hoping to make ends meet.
In the final analysis, it turns out the local tourism travel vouchers are actually almost u.s. more than we know. And we should brand each of our Southward$100 count.
Perchance it might exist useful if the Authorities proactively articulates how measures to support enterprises benefit Singapore and Singaporeans to tackle binary thinking that industrial policy is necessarily pro-enterprise and less friendly towards workers.
Lin Suling is executive editor at CNA Digital News where she oversees the Commentary department and hosts the Heart of the Matter podcast.
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-what-singapore-tourism-vouchers-are-really-about-283041
0 Response to "Commentary: What the Singapore tourism vouchers are really about"
Postar um comentário