APRIL 20188 Travellers today are more discerning than before. They seek quality experiences and timely access to relevant information and services that meet their needs.To provide a seamless and personalised travel experience for travellers before, during and after their visit, is the Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) aim.However, as most of the experiential touchpoints are owned by the industry, we cannot do this by ourselves. Our approach has been to co-innovate with partners in content, services, and data to accelerate their transformation as well as to be the flag bearer in how a successful transformation could happen.The transformation of the tourism industry in Singapore hinges on leveraging technology more effectively in three main areas: 1) to deepen our insights on visitors' needs with data analytics through an amalgamation of data from STB, third-party data providers, and industry stakeholders, 2) to deliver quality experiences for both visitors and locals, and 3) to connect businesses for more efficient and effective sharing and exchange of content and services.To accelerate the transformation of the industry, we made significant investments over the past two years in two digital platforms: the Tourism Information and Services Hub (TIH) and Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan).TIH is a one-stop digital resource platform that enables businesses to deliver key tourism information and services to consumers easily via their mobile and/or other digital devices. Tourism businesses can draw information and services from TIH to enhance their consumer-facing platforms to enable a more seamless and enhanced experience for visitors. With TIH, businesses just have to list or update the information about their tourism products once, and the information will be updated across TIH's entire network of tourism players via their digital platforms, such as websites and mobile apps. If they are integrated with TIH through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), information will be updated in real-time. Drawing on the content that is available in TIH makes available smart travel software services for businesses too. For example, the enhanced navigation service on TIH will enable anyone to layer the points of interest (POIs) contributed by the industry onto their own digital experiences. This open and free platform offers businesses increased exposure, and makes BY MR. QUEK CHOON YANG, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARDIN MY V EWMr. Quek Choon YangRedefining TourismWITH DIGITAL PLATFORMSAPRIL 20188
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