From the Rugby Sevens to St. Jerome’s Laneway music festival, Singapore is "turning to big-ticket events to drive tourism traffic, including to its two casino resorts and a new 55,000-seat stadium," according to Sharon Chen of BLOOMBERG. The city, home to an Asian leg of the F1 series, posted its "first decline in visitor arrivals since the global financial crisis as political turmoil in Thailand, aviation disasters and a slowdown in Chinese tourists damped travel in the region last year." The island is "counting on events including the Women's Tennis Association tournament to transform it into a standalone destination rather than an itinerary item on regional travel packages." Singapore Second Minister For Trade & Industry S. Iswaran said, "It's not our intention that we want to attract all the sort of low-cost, three cities in three days or two days kind of thing." Iswaran said that the city-state is seeking events such as the rugby IRB Sevens World Series for its $955M Singapore Sports Hub after hosting the WTA final for the first time last year. Singapore was also the venue for the Int'l Swimming Federation (FINA) Swimming World Cup for the first time last year, while the F1 night race, "which will include concerts by artists Pharrell Williams and Maroon 5 this September, has drawn some of the biggest crowds in the city in past years." To beef up its infrastructure, the government is planning a
"fifth terminal at Changi Airport that will be almost as large as
the three existing ones combined" (BLOOMBERG, 2/24).
