Singapore Tourism Board signs understanding with Skyscanner

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and global travel app Skyscanner signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote Singapore as a preferred travel destination. 

The MOU was signed by STB chief executive Melissa Ow and Skyscanner CEO John Mangelaars in a private ceremony at the STB office in Singapore on 15th October.

This multi-year partnership will see both organisations collaborating on the following strategic areas: a joint marketing campaign where the parties co-leverage each other’s data for smarter and sharper targeting to reach consumers in new ways, to increase consideration and drive bookings from multiple selected markets across Europe and Southeast Asia; driving brand awareness via co-branding and harnessing the strengths of both brands in key growth markets by testing new avenues to capture the imagination of travellers; and jointly developing a stopover solution where both parties will explore ways to improve the consumer booking and fulfilment journey for stopover travel. 

Amid growing demand for global travel, STB expects 15 to 16.5 million tourist arrivals and S$27.5 to S$29 billion in tourist spending in 2024.  

The positive recovery in visitor arrivals comes off the back of Singapore’s growing pipeline of visitor experiences. Some notable openings over the past two years alone include Bird Paradise, The Palawan @Sentosa, Sentosa Sensoryscape, Children’s Museum Singapore, as well as new accommodation offerings such as 21 Carpenter, Artyzen Singapore, The Singapore EDITION, and Mercure ICON Singapore City Centre. 

A cooperative effort 

According to Ow: “STB is excited to confirm our first MOU with Skyscanner and profile Singapore’s unique attractions and experiences across key markets in Europe and Southeast Asia. Taking a market-led and consumer-centric approach, we look forward to layering our own customer insights on top of Skyscanner’s machine learning capabilities for sharper targeting, and to co-ideate with Skyscanner improvements to the consumer journey for stopover bookings. This partnership aligns with STB’s strategy to collaborate with innovative partners and leverage technology to enhance our understanding of travellers, with our shared goal of inspiring more visitors to discover Singapore.” 

Mangelaars added: “This two-year strategic partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board is testament to Skyscanner’s innovation in the travel tech space. We are delighted to be collaborating with one of the region’s leading destination organisations, where our machine learning capabilities will be utilised to increase awareness and consideration for Singapore as a destination for travellers.”