TOURISM PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PLAN - AN EVALUATION

Abstract

The tourist industry has assumed an increasingly important role in the Singapore's economy.Over the years, the Tourism Board has consistently tried to sell Singapore as an ideal tourist destination.Consequently, in 1986 STPB collaborated with other government bodies and statutory boards to produce a tourism master plan.Basically, this plan is to upgrade existing attractions and also to develop new ones. Generally, the study is to give an insight into the planning principles being applied in the plan and to evaluate the plan on the adequacy of proposals. First, the study gave an insight as to how attractions are related to the transportation, the services-facilities, the information-direction and the tourists components.This was illustrated in the five-component concept of the Tourism Functional System. Secondly, the importance of the attraction component was spelt out and the nine general planning principles were discussed as well. The study further examined the relevancy of the general principles of attraction to Singapore.This was done based on the proposals laid out in the plan.It was found out that not all the principles were applicable. In addition, the plan was evaluated to establish the adequacy of the proposals based on the opinion of the travel agents.Overall, the proposals were adequate except for certain aspects such as lacking in night attractions.