Dear Valued Partner,

Greetings from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Happy Lunar New Year.

Many of us are now hard at work dealing with the challenges arising from the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in our respective cities and countries. The single biggest impact has been the near-complete evaporation of outbound Chinese tourism, but the tourism industry in Singapore (and indeed, the whole of Singapore) has rallied together in an extraordinary effort to keep Singapore healthy and safe. At this point, all the confirmed cases are imported ones and contact tracing has been swiftly implemented – and we want to keep it that way! I thought it would be useful to keep you informed of our efforts in Singapore.

We learned very hard but incredibly useful lessons from SARS in 2003. Since then, many hotels, venues, attractions and event organisers have developed protocols and processes to deal with contingency scenarios such as the spread of an infectious disease. These protocols have stood us well during this period. Our airport, cruise terminals, hotels, attractions and event venues have literally gone into overdrive, stepping up their vigilance and cleaning/sanitisation regimens. I have visited several venues and I am completely confident in the robustness of their processes and the dedication of their leadership and their people.

Equally important, the Singapore government has moved swiftly to mobilise a Whole-of-Government effort to strengthen our defences, enhance our vigilance and shore up our ability to reduce the risk of importation and transmission of the novel coronavirus (nCoV). The government is sparing no effort to safeguard the health of Singaporeans and our visitors.

The Singapore government has taken the following measures to contain nCoV:

a) All individuals (regardless of nationality) with recent travel history (14 days) to China will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore;

b) Temperature screening has been implemented at all our entry checkpoints, and all suspect cases will be referred to hospitals for further assessment and isolated as a precautionary measure;

c) Health Advisory Notices have been issued to all travellers arriving at Changi Airport from China, and health advisory posters are distributed at all land and sea checkpoints;

d) All medical practitioners will look out for suspect cases and maintain strict infection control and prevention measures;

e) We have also given detailed advice to our hotels on how to deal with guests who display symptoms of the illness, so that they in turn can contain any potential infection immediately.

Our Singapore stakeholders such as the hotels, the business events community, attractions, etc. will all abide by the guidelines set by the Ministry of Health (https://www.moh.gov.sg/2019-ncov-wuhan).

There will be updates to the situation and you will be able to find these updates on STB’s corporate website (https://www.stb.gov.sg/content/stb/en/home-pages/faq-onwuhan-coronavirus.html#FAQ) and social media channels, which we strongly encourage you to share with your clients and delegates that are planning to visit Singapore. Please let them know that life in Singapore remains normal and we are open for business as usual!

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to email your usual STB regional office or Singapore partner. Thank you for your understanding and continued support for Singapore.

Yours sincerely,
Keith Tan
Chief Executive