To celebrate 60 years of 'friendship' between India and Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) organised an event in Mumbai on 22 January, unveiling new initiatives and outlining strategies to attract Indian travellers to Singapore.

Highlighting the strategies, Markus Tan, regional director - India, STB, said, “We are launching a project called ‘Friends of Singapore.’ Usually, we commission content partners to send influencers to Singapore. This time we wanted to do a lot more with the influencer community in India, in a way, we want to make friends with them and engage with them,” he said.

“It’s not the usual influencer program whereby we send them to Singapore. We are going to have an (academy) whereby content creators from all over India can apply. They will be thought through to be equipped with interesting skills on how to create immersive content using the latest tech, using the best storytelling technique based on the experiences they get to see and enjoy and have in Singapore,” added Tan.

The program will be launched sometime in the middle of this year, informed Tan, and added that STB is also going to launch its content series, featuring Indian leaders. 

“For the first time, STB will publish its brand new content. We are creating a special content series called Game Changers. It's a content series that spotlights visionary Indian thought leaders in different themes including culture, music, businesses, entrepreneurship, and more. It’s a talk show of sorts and we have put together a very interesting line-up of Indian thought leaders,” he asserted. 

The first episode will feature Rahul Reddy, founder, Subko Speciality Coffee Roasters.

Talking about the show, Tan mentioned, “We have assembled a group of 60 interesting personalities and formed an inner circle who can share private travel tips when one travels to Singapore. These people come from very diverse backgrounds but the one thing that they share in common is their perspectives on what makes Singapore an exciting destination for Indian travelers. Throughout the year, they will be sharing their own travel stories, hidden gems, and personal tips about Singapore.”

He added that the show spotlights the game-changing spirit, a joint habit of both countries.

“All of this really underscores the excitement Singapore operators have for the Indian market and they want them to have a fun and great time in the country,” concluded Tan.