THE South Beach hotel and leisure complex, a new concept in accommodation and hospitality in Asia, will open in Singapore this summer and Japanese travel operators are keen to introduce it to their clients.
A preview of the the property’s opening took place in Tokyo on Wednesday, and South Beach Consortium CEO, Aloysius Lee, told TTG Asia e-Daily the property is “a perfect fit” for Japanese visitors.
“Japanese consumers are always looking for a high degree of style and we deliver that through our HIP (Highly Individualised People in a Highly Individualised Place) concept,” he said. “Japan is sixth in terms of visitor numbers to Singapore and they are an important part of our market because they see the city as a destination instead of a transit point, so they tend to stay longer.
“And we want to see one person staying five nights rather than five people staying just one night,” he added.
The hotel has incorporated a number of features that will appeal to Japanese travellers, on top of the already impressive dining, retail and leisure facilities.
Lee shared: “We have floors set aside solely for ladies and we think that will work well for Japanese clients. While we also have doubled our security measures, we believe more mature Japanese women are now travelling, either solo or in groups, and they want exclusivity and safety, and we are happy to ensure that.”
Toshiyuki Watanabe, manager of the JTB Corp team that oversees the company’s operations in South-east Asia, says Singapore is a burgeoning market for Japanese tourists.
“We are doing around 32,000 people a year in group tours alone to Singapore each year and that makes the destination an important part of our business,” he said.
“A lot of Japanese visited Singapore in the past, but they know there have been big changes there recently and now they want to go and see the ‘new’ Singapore,” he added.
Top activities for Japanese tourists are shopping, dining out and visiting casinos, he said, with “unique” new properties such as The South Beach also adding to interest in the destination.
