Here’s how you can redeem your $100 SingapoRediscovers Vouchers

Bored in Singapore?
There are actually quite a few things to do in Singapore, and the government is
promoting that via the SingapoRediscovers campaign. From local attractions to
hotels for staycations, there’s much to do in Singapore. But of course, most of
them requires money.

The good news is, Singaporeans aged 18 and above this year will each receive $100 in digital vouchers to spend on staycations, tickets to leisure attractions and local tours.

The SingapoRediscovers
Vouchers will be accessible via SingPass from December and can be used to
offset ticket purchases and hotel stays until the end of June next year.
Permanent residents will not be eligible for the vouchers.

Adult Singaporeans
will also be able to purchase up to six subsidised tickets for attractions and
tours - each at $10 off - for those under 18 from December to the end of next
June.

Announcing the details
on Wednesday (Sept 16), Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said the
duration of the voucher programme is timed to coincide with the June and
December holidays and to spread out demand in between.

The initiative is not
a social assistance scheme, he added.

"This is an
economic scheme to help our tourist attractions preserve their capabilities
that have been built up over their years while they consolidate the capacity in
the interim," Mr Chan told reporters during a visit to the Jurong
Bird Park.

The $320 million SingapoRediscovers
Vouchers scheme was first announced last month and forms part of the
Government’s efforts to prop up the tourism sector, which has been decimated by
travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vouchers, which
will come in denominations of $10, can be used at all licensed hotels, leisure
attractions and for local tours by operators that have received approval from
the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to reopen or resume.

There are currently
214 hotels, 40 attractions and 438 tour itineraries that have been given the
green light to resume operations with safe management measures in place. They
include Singapore's four wildlife parks, a number of activities and hotels on
Sentosa and guided tours of Pulau Ubin.

The vouchers complement the $45 million SingapoRediscovers marketing campaign, launched in July to encourage locals to holiday at home and support local businesses.

More than 200 deals and packages have been launched so far, and the vouchers will give Singaporeans more incentive to rediscover their backyard, STB said on Wednesday.

On the expected impact
of the total $365 million budgeted for the campaign and vouchers, Mr Chan said
businesses outside the tourism sector are expected to see a boost as well, as
spending spills over into food and beverage (F&B), for example.

“As to the exact
extent of the catalytic effect, it will be a bit hard to predict at this point
in time, but we hope that it is at least a few times what we have provided for
in the budget,” he said.

STB chief executive
Keith Tan said that while F&B and retail businesses are part of the
marketing campaign, the core beneficiaries of the vouchers will be hotels,
attractions and tours, which depend on tourists for at least 70 to 80 per cent
of revenues.

The tourism board said
specific details on how the vouchers can be redeemed will be announced in
November.

While STB expects that
the redemption process for the vouchers "will adopt a digital mode by
default", it will provide support for those who have difficulties using
such methods.

Details are being
worked out, and the STB will be calling a tender on Wednesday to appoint
platforms for the redemption of vouchers.

There are no plans to
limit the number of vouchers that can be used in a single transaction, or to
set out how they should be used, Mr Tan said.

The $10 vouchers can
be spread out across separate visits, or used up at once on a staycation
package, for example.

Asked about the
possibility of tourism operators increasing prices to maximise takings, Mr Tan
noted that in other countries where such government vouchers have been issued,
there have been instances of this.

STB will work with
other government agencies including the Competition and Consumer Commission of
Singapore to ensure that this does not happen here, he said.

“Ultimately we will
retain the ability to include a merchant or to pull the merchant off this
scheme if they demonstrate behaviour that is not desirable.”

Industry players have said that the vouchers will act as a form of indirect discounting for businesses, as lowering prices is a challenge with capacity limits on their operations in place.

HIGHER CAPACITY LIMITS FOR ATTRACTIONS

However, tourist
attractions - which are currently restricted to 25 per cent of their operating
capacity at any one time - can apply to increase this to 50 per cent from
Friday.

They can also seek
STB's permission to scale up the capacity at their outdoor shows to 250
people, up from 50 currently. But shows must be split into five zones with a
maximum of 50 people in each, with safe distancing between groups as well as
zones.

This means the limit for outdoor shows at attractions will be in line with the maximum number of participants soon to be allowed at approved Mice (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) events.

STB said on Wednesday
that the easing of rules for attractions comes as operators have been effective
at preventing and dispersing crowds, as well as maintaining high standards of
cleanliness and hygiene.

All attractions have also introduced online booking systems for timed entry or pre-booking of activities to monitor and control visitor numbers, it said.

This article was first published on The Straits Times.