Leisure

Singapore adds more for tourists

Sara Pathirana

Singapore Airlines (SIA) had recently collaborated with the Singapore Tourist Board (STB) to launch a familiarization of Singapore's latest additions to its collection of ever-changing infrastructure and the constant modernizations the country is most popular for.

"For the moment, there is no specific market target when it comes to Sri Lankan tourists.

A global traveller forecast is the goal entity for STB. It was also reported that in 2011, about 84,000 Sri Lankan visitors had arrived to the island, with an average of 5.4 days being spent per visit in Singapore," G. B. Srithar, Area Director for South Asia, Singapore Tourist Board, acknowledged.

Sri Lankan visitors into Singapore can enjoy a grand array of benefits. Passengers who travel on board Singapore Airlines or their subsidiary airline, SilkAir, and transit in Singapore for more than five hours will receive a free two hour city tour. "Once passengers arrive to Singapore, they need to contact the Singapore Free City Tour Counter and register by providing their passport numbers," Shihana Cader, PR and Premium Services Manager, Singapore Airlines, Sri Lanka said.

Cader also added that another benefit offered together with Singapore Changi Airport also for passengers transiting is that they will receive the 'Changi Dollar Voucher' to the value of $20 to spend on anything from duty free shopping to the use of lounge facilities. This voucher is valid until March 2014.

An interior view of a garden dome

At the Marine Life Park

Among these advantages is also the Hop-on Bus facility for tourists on business and pleasure entities. The usual price for the bus tour is $25 but the traveller could get the privilege of enjoying the tour for $8 only upon producing the boarding pass which is valid for seven days upon arrival. Usually, producing the pass could benefit the traveller to attain discounts at food outlets, hotel accommodations, dining, shopping malls, spas, car rentals, zoo etc.

For Business Class travellers or passengers who wish to experience the comfort and privacy of the service could enjoy the attentive, friendly and hospitable attributes of the crew on board the Airline. Krisworld, which homes over a selection of 1000 entertainment channels, is the most awarded entertainment option available on all classes on board.

Among the most recently constructed and revamped attractions would be the Gardens by the Bay, a revamped 4D experience at Adventureland at Sentosa Resort, Marine Life Park, which is the largest oceanarium in the world, River Safari which is Asia's first and only river-themed wildlife park.

4D Adventureland recently launched a new 4D Movie Experience - Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,' and this transition has been the second replacement since the screenings first opened in 2005. Marine Life Park is the world's largest oceanarium in terms of water volume and stores more than 60 million l of water and is home to more than 100,000 marine animals from over 800 different species.

The Life Park offers the best of wet and dry experiences at a single oceanarium with two world class attractions - Adventure Cove Waterpark and S.E.A. Aquarium, which is the world's largest aquarium.

Adventure Cove Waterpark is aimed at offering visitors and thrill-seekers with an invigorating day of water-splashing thrill rides and water slides such as South Asia's first hydro-magnetic coaster.

As the regions's only waterpark, visitors could enjoy snorkeling with thousands of fish over the Rainbow Reef. The Marine Life Park also helps to provide Education, Conservation and Research collaborations into various habitat and species protection fields, where the ultimate aim is to promote best practices for animal care and long term conservation of marine animals and the ecosystem.

The newest addition to Wildlife Reserves Singapore's group of award-winning parks is the River Safari, with over 5,000 aquatic and terrestrial animals from 300 species and is also one of the world's largest repositories for river dwelling creatures, where visitors could come face-to-face with the ecosystems.

The park highlights the great rivers of the world and the habitat of this region where the Rivers such as the Amazon, Mississippi, Yangtze and the Ganges conceptualism are used in the park to depict wildlife.

New leisure products and services related to a concentration of experiences such as cultural, historical, arts, entertainment, wellness, festivals, food, nature, shopping, modes of travels etc. are being constantly updated into the country's tourist portfolio. Key additions would also include MICE facilities, which is also being focused on especially during the current economic and business tourism related forecasts.