Oh no, no one’s coming

Hey, it sounds like tourists aren’t splashing the cash on Singaporean tourist attractions:

“It’s not too bad, a good place for shopping and eating, really cheap and you can try all kinds of food,” said one tourist about Singapore.

“There’s a lot to buy and eat,” said another.

“What attracts me most is the shopping.”

So, while shopping and eating are good (The Great Singapore Sale, Singapore Food Festival), we should despair because

Singapore’s uniqueness is not something that can be seen immediately. It has a lot of races and cultures, so its uniqueness is that all of them are living together on this small island, creating a really unusual culture.

Singapore’s culture is very unique, okay? So much so we have a whole tourism campaign / slogan built around it.

Lee Chor Lin said: “Perhaps there is more to buy and eat, and there is less focus on promoting the historical side of Singapore so tourists think that’s all there is to us. Singaporeans are the best ambassadors, because when foreigners come here they will ask their Singaporean friends what to do. So it will have a positive impact if Singaporeans introduce some of our museums to them.”

Uh, when you demolish and rebuild the ‘historical’ side of Singapore, it’s not very likely that people will come to see reproductions. I mean, even the bird park has a replica tree trunk (WTF is up with that). Also, the History Museum sucks ass. The Wax Museum, on the other hand, is super cool. I spent enough time during primary school excursions going to these places to speak with juvenile authority.

• 30 May 2005

• Thinking