Hard-hit S’pore tourist attractions, travel agencies welcome Resilience Budget measures

SINGAPORE — In normal times, 1,500 visitors a day head to 4D Adventureland on Sentosa to experience 4D technology, by wearing 3D glasses to view visuals on rides, while feeling sensations such as vibrations, rain and wind. On Thursday (March 26), just 110 visitors turned up.

Dr Kevin Cheong, the executive director of the attraction, told TODAY that in the last week, visitor numbers have plummeted by 90 per cent and he has considered suspending operations temporarily given the overhead costs involved in keeping it open.

He added that it is also “demotivating” for his 20 staff to serve “so few” customers.

But Dr Cheong’s spirits were lifted when Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat delivered the S$48 billion Resilience Budget in Parliament on Thursday — which means, in effect, he can keep his staff on, and his financial worries are somewhat alleviated.

In particular, he was pleased to hear of moves to enhance the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for licensed hotels, travel agencies, tourist attractions, cruise terminals and operators, and purpose-built Mice (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) venue operators, to offset a total of 75 per cent of the first S$4,600 of monthly wages.

Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, announced that an additional S$90 million would be set aside to help the tourism industry rebound strongly, “when the time is right”.

Tourism-related industries — including hotels, attractions, travel agents and bus companies — have had a difficult time because of Covid-19, he told Parliament.

The Training Industry Professionals in Tourism grant, which supports tourism companies in employee upgrading and talent and leadership development, has also been enhanced, covering up to 90 per cent of course fees and 90 per cent of basic salary for absentee payroll, capped at S$10 per hour. The grant, which commenced on March 1, will now end on Dec 31.

Dr Cheong is most looking forward to utilising the JSS “as it will really help with our cash flow, retaining staff and staying ready for recovery”.

“Without our staff, recovery and scalability become a real concern and challenge,” he said.

“Given the basic coverage of measures on rental, property tax, income tax and wage assistance, most visitor attractions should be able to see at least 40 per cent of their cash operating expenses covered,” he said.

“This will not only help in terms of cash flow, but also sustainability. This financial assistance is good for businesses because we really do not know when the crisis will bottom-out and when recovery can start,” said Dr Cheong, also citing other measures announced on Thursday.

Mr Lawrence Koh, chief executive officer of iFly Singapore, a Sentosa attraction that offers a simulated skydiving experience, said that the Resilience Budget gave him “great relief” as 70 per cent of iFly’s revenue relies on tourist visits.

“We are pretty hard hit and have had to start thinking of how to reposition our business plans. We used to get about 300 to 400 flyers a day but now, we are just looking at 50 to 100 flyers on a good day. Revenue has dropped quite drastically,” he said.

Despite this, laying off any of his 37 employees was never an option. He has also not reduced salaries.

“Our employment philosophy has always been focused on recruiting Singaporeans on a full-time basis so we can take care of our team with full employment welfare and benefits. With the enhanced JSS, we now know for sure that we can continue taking care of them,” he said.

Mr Koh said he will also take advantage of the training grant, and is looking at sending his employees for training relating to attraction management, customer service and digital marketing.

“Training them during the downtime will enhance their capability for the recovery phase,” he said.

Travel agencies have been hard hit, too. Mr Rob Stables, country manager of STA Travel, said that he has witnessed “an almost complete decline in demand”.

Ms Alicia Seah, director of public relations and communications of Dynasty Travel, agreed. She said that since March, 70 per cent of customers have either cancelled or postponed their travel plans while 30 per cent have decided to re-route to other destinations in the second half of 2020.

While Mr Stables has not had to let any of his 28 employees go as a result of Covid-19, he said that he will have to start implementing measures to reduce costs, though he declined to elaborate on what these measures will be.

“The additional measures announced yesterday provide huge support to our business as we try to keep all of our employees in their jobs throughout this period of huge uncertainty,” he said.

“Our objective has always been to protect as many jobs as we can and the additional measures will certainly help us in achieving this objective and ensuring that our business is ready to bounce back when people start showing confidence in making travel plans.”

Mr Stables is also most impressed by the enhanced JSS, adding: “The scale of the support being provided to travel and tourism businesses was beyond our expectations and a reflection of the importance of this sector to the Singaporean economy.”

Mr Kliff Ang, the director of Asia Travel Group, added that before the enhanced JSS was announced, he was not sure if his company had sufficient funds to retain workers and for how long. He had even implemented a hiring freeze.

“Certainty is critical in this period of uncertainty. What was announced gives us some short-term certainty on how to manage costs and it will help in budget planning,” he said.

Ms Seah said that before the announcement was made on Thursday, the firm had plans in place for employees to begin flexible work schedule arrangements, rather than asking them to leave the business altogether.

She is also looking forward to sending Dynasty Travel’s 110 employees on training courses so that when “demand picks up again, we can quickly ramp up and resume business”.

Using this time to train and upskill the employees will be a benefit when normal business resumes, she said.

“We hope to send our employees for adaptive skills training, service excellence training and even on occupational first aid courses. We are also looking into digital marketing training programmes,” she said.