Page 4103 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 December 2022
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The meeting provided an opportunity to share insights on the post COVID-19 recovery of tourism destinations and the work that the Singapore Tourism Board is doing to reposition Singapore within the global marketplace. We discussed the shared challenges faced by our tourism sectors, including the labour shortages. We also discussed future opportunities to collaborate on attracting visitors from Europe via Singapore to Canberra, and the opportunity for the Singapore Tourism Board to deliver their own destination campaign activity in the Canberra region that would support air services.
Relationship-building and commitment to genuine partnerships is an important part of international engagement. This is relevant to all activities delivered on a trade mission. However, it is reinforced when we are looking to grow product knowledge amongst those who sell Canberra to key markets as a place to visit. So whilst in Singapore, I was delighted that VisitCanberra was able to collaborate with Tourism Australia to deliver an event that brings together key distribution partners, including travel agents and wholesalers. The event allowed us to share information to help our partners sell Canberra to their customers. As a direct result of this activity, a tour group from Singapore visited Floriade, and further activities are planned for 2023.
Investment attraction was another focus of the mission, and we hosted a roundtable to discuss some of the upcoming sites that we will be delivering to the market, including build-to-rent residential, mixed-use development and hotel and accommodation sites. I want to thank Mr Chris Cheah, a Singapore investor who is well known to Canberra, for bringing this group together. The event was hosted by our Deputy High Commissioner, and I thank them both for their assistance in the successful delivery of this event.
There are several long-standing arrangements between education institutions in Canberra and Singapore. The CIT has a relationship with the Tamasek Polytechnic, where we toured their Cyber Security Training School. Given the forthcoming rebuild of CIT’s Woden campus, and the importance of training the coming generations of cyber security experts, it was timely in both instances. The training school operates in a specially designed facility, and is largely run by the students to give them practical experience in real-life time-sensitive cyber security situations.
For me, the final event of the trade mission was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the National Arboretum Canberra, the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the Wellington Botanic Gardens. Our arboretum already had bilateral MOUs with each of the other institutions, but all parties agreed that a tripartite agreement would further strengthen our relationships and drive greater collaboration and knowledge, and staff exchange. Activities will include exchanges of information and staff, joint training and research activities, sharing environmental knowledge—especially in sustainability and renewable energy projects—and supporting each institution to realise their tourism potential. I would like to thank Minister Rajah and the Honourable Jo Tyrell, the New Zealand High Commissioner to Singapore, for joining me in the signing of this MOU with the heads of each of those institutions. We look forward to working together to deliver outcomes for all three institutions.
This, of course, was the first trade mission to Singapore since international travel resumed. It was fitting that we visited one of our key strategic partners. Whilst it was
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