In a milestone moment for Flight Centre Travel Group, FCTG has signed a multimillion-dollar agreement with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to promote Singapore to Aussie travellers through its international network.
The three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) marks FCTG’s first global agreement with a destination partner since the pandemic.
The deal will see both partners actively promote Singapore in Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, Canada and South Africa, focusing on single-destination packages and stopovers, which will encourage visitors to spend some time in the island state before travelling onwards.
As part of the MOU, FCTG advisors will also receive training and have the opportunity to join familiarisations to become experts on all things Singapore.
Win-Win
FCTG CEO Graham Turner and STB CEO Keith Tan signed the agreement at Flight Centre’s head office in Brisbane on Thursday.
“This MOU underscores just how much FCTG values Singapore as a major player in the Asia-Pacific travel market,” Turner says.
“Now that more of the region’s carriers have resumed routes through Singapore, FCTG is excited to work with STB to cast the limelight back on the city and remind the world just what a spectacular travel destination Singapore is.”
Meanwhile, Tan says he is “thrilled with this partnership as it enables STB and FCTG to boost tourism recovery around the world”.
“With such a valuable and strategic partner, STB will be able to showcase the many new hotels, experiences and attractions that have been launched in the past few years, so that travellers can experience even more of our beloved Singapore – our City in Nature,” he states.
FCTG has run joint campaigns with STB for many years, with Singapore also invited to take part in global Flight Centre events.
Now open to all visitors, Singapore welcomed around 6.3 million travellers in 2022 and expects to double that figure this year.
STB Area Director Oceania Stephanie Yong told Karryon in a recent interview that Singapore forecasts tourism activity to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024 “barring unexpected circumstances”.
Yong said that Australia was the fourth-largest source market for visitors last year and the third-biggest generator of tourism revenue for the country.
