Main Headline UTM Around the World

IFT students explore some of Singapore’s top attractions

中文摘要 / Summary in Chinese

A group of 20 IFT students participated in the first-ever overseas study tour by the Institute’s Tourism Club, visiting Singapore. The 5-day tour took place in July and was subsidised with funding from Macao’s Tertiary Education Services Office.

“The study tour provided a great learning experience on how a small city-state can develop and manage iconic and top international attractions,” Club President Mickey Chan said.

The study tour group was accompanied by IFT Visiting Professor Dr. John Ap, who also assisted the club in planning the itinerary. “Such study tours provide a valuable and enriching cultural learning experience, and also [allow participants] to see how attractions have been developed and managed successfully elsewhere in the world,” noted Prof. Ap.

Some of the internationally-renowned attractions visited included Marina Bay, the Gardens by the Bay, and the Sands SkyPark atop the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. Participants also joined two safaris by Wildlife Reserves Singapore: the “River Safari” and the “Night Safari”.

Most of the attractions included in the programme offered types of leisure options not available in Macao. They were selected for the tour in order to broaden the students’ exposure to new types of urban tourism products, some of which might also be developed in Macao.

Participants also attended presentations on Singapore’s tourism sector and on the work of Wildlife Reserves Singapore. These sessions took place at Republic Polytechnic, a higher education institution in Singapore. IFT students had also the opportunity to visit some of the tourism-related training facilities at Republic Polytechnic, including a training restaurant and mock-ups of hotel rooms.

A lesser-known infrastructure project-cum-attraction visited was Marina Barrage, a dam constructed to control the respective flow of the Singapore and Kallang rivers, and create a reservoir (i.e. Marina Bay). The barrage serves 3 functions, namely water supply, flood control and provision of water recreation areas.

As well as visiting Chinatown, which was part of the tour itinerary, students had on their free day the chance to explore Little India and the Malay Heritage Centre, in order to see and experience Singapore’s multicultural way of life.