SINGAPORE, 31 July 2008 - Iconic attraction also establishes itself as Singapore’s prime tourism hub.

Five months into its operations, the Singapore Flyer has surpassed the one million mark in ticket sales. Riding on this momentum, the iconic attraction today unveiled new measures to establish itself as the Republic’s prime tourism hub. Close to half of the one million tickets were sold to tourists, while the rest were sold to locals, such as grassroots organisations, schools and corporate groups.

The world’s largest Giant Observation Wheel, the Singapore Flyer, also experienced a 20-per-cent increase in sales in July 2008, vis-à-vis June 2008. In addition, over 3,000 visitors, including local and international media, hotel concierges and taxi drivers, have been hosted on the Singapore Flyer.  Singapore and foreign dignitaries like President S R Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Thai Deputy Prime Minister Dr Sahas Bunditkul have also enjoyed the Flyer experience. Other special guests to the waterfront 165-metre-tall Singapore Flyer include Taiwanese pop band Sodagreen, Hollywood director Jan de Bont, Swedish supermodel Marcus Schenkenberg and Latin World Dance Champions Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelj. “The numbers are well within our aim of establishing the Flyer as Singapore’s most iconic attraction. At this rate, I am confident that we can achieve our target of 2.5 million visitors in our first year of operations,” said Mr. Florian Bollen, Chairman of Singapore Flyer. “As we celebrate this milestone, we are very excited to establish ourselves as the Republic’s prime tourism hub.”

For the first time in a local attraction, Singapore’s top key tour operators like City Tours, Tour East, SH Tours, RMG Tours and Singapore DUCKtours have established their sales presence and operations centres at Singapore Flyer, so as to tap on the growing number of visitors.

One of the tour operators, City Tours, has reported a 30 per cent month-on-month increase in passengers carried. More exciting pieces to the multi-transport system at the Flyer for locals and visitors will soon fall into place as other partners launch water taxi services and trishaw rides, in addition to existing travel and leisure services.

A new Visitors Information Centre – jointly helmed by National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) and Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA) – was launched today and it will provide visitors with a one-stop service for all these choices available, as well as latest attractions and travel related offerings, according to Mr. Francis Phun, Chairman of ASA. He added that a digital kiosk, to be launched by the first quarter of 2009, will provide information on demand, self-ticketing capability and way-finding ability “for visitors who like to take control of what they like to read, do and explore”. Said Mr. Robert Khoo, Chairman of NATAS, “Aimed at developing a more dynamic tourism environment in Singapore, this new visitor centre will serve as an integrated service tourism hub for channel partners and visitors alike.”

Sourece: Singapore Flyer press release