CONSUMING TRAVEL :THE SINGAPORE MIDDLE CLASS, THE GOVERNMENT & THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY, 1970S-1990S

Abstract

The rush of peak season travel during the June and December school holiday periods are a familiar experience for most Singaporeans. Travellers keen to vacation abroad also fervently look forward to the now biannual travel fairs organised by the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS). The fairs feature content familiar to the outbound tourist - holiday destination booths, contest prizes, and the thrill of "shopping around" for tour packages with the best bargain. NATAS travel fairs draw tens of thousands of eager Singaporean travel consumers - almost like a yearly ritual. Middle class families that attend the event are usually looking to book the annual trip overseas together. These trends now present in Singapore's consumer travel behaviour are grounded in past developments within the outbound travel industry of Singapore. Government regulation in the mid-1970s set the foundations for a professional and credible local travel trade. Reorganisation of industry associations then resulted in institutionalised practices like the annual NATAS Travel Fairs that have shaped the purchasing habits of Singapore leisure travel consumers. Studying Trav-ta/k, the first trade publication, also yields insights into the way local travel agents crafted and sold particular destinations to the Singaporean traveller. The shift of industry attention towards the promotion of outbound tourism reflected the growing economic importance of the Singaporean overseas leisure travel market. This study argues that the late 1980s and early 1990s saw the growth of a regular travel culture among middle class Singaporeans, reflecting their increased affluence and leisure consumption. The demographic profile of rising middle class travellers was important to travel agents when considering the pricing, format and destinations of tour packages. Income level, marital status, family size, and educational level of this group of consumers determined their financial ability and motivations to travel regularly.