For the first time, the public will be able to nominate deserving organisations for the Awards, and not just frontline staff whom they deemed to have delivered exceptional experiences. Corresponding with these changes, the Awards will be renamed as Singapore Tourism Awards.
Singapore’s most prestigious awards for the tourism industry returns with a few major changes in 2016. In addition to celebrating exceptional experiences, there will be a new category to recognise tourism enterprise excellence. For the first time, the public will be able to nominate deserving organisations for the Awards, and not just frontline staff whom they deemed to have delivered exceptional experiences. Corresponding with these changes, the Awards will be renamed as Singapore Tourism Awards[1].
“The Singapore Tourism Awards is an integral part of STB’s efforts to raise the tourism sector’s competitiveness by inspiring organisations and individuals to create compelling experiences or adopt best practices,” said Mr Oliver Chong, Executive Director, Communications & Marketing Capability, Singapore Tourism Board.
“To ensure sustainable growth of our tourism sector, we need to not only continue to raise the bar in experience delivery, but also drive business innovation. Hence, the expansion of award categories reflects the emphasis that we are also placing on pursuing enterprise excellence in tourism,” he added.
Organised by the Singapore Tourism Board and supported by seven[2] tourism industry associations, the Singapore Tourism Awards will be open for nominations from 1 May to 1 June 2016.
Going beyond Experience Excellence
The Singapore Tourism Awards now comprises five main award categories – Experience Excellence, Enterprise Excellence, Customer Service, Special Recognition and Top Awards. Up to 30 awards could be conferred on organisations and individuals that have achieved excellence in tourism experience or enterprise. For the full list of the award categories, please click here.
New for 2016 is the category of Enterprise Excellence, under which are the Best Marketing Idea and Best Business Innovation awards. Best Business Innovation is a new award that could be accorded to any tourism or travel-related organisation that has achieved higher productivity, sales or delivered greater customer satisfaction through innovation in product, process, service and organisation.
How to nominate
The public is strongly encouraged to show their appreciation for deserving organisations and frontline service staff by nominating them for the Singapore Tourism Awards. With the exceptions of Best Business Event Champion, Special Recognition and Top Awards, all other award categories are open for public nomination.
The public can make their nominations online at the Singapore Tourism Awards website: www.singaporetourismawards.com. Public nomination forms specifically for the Customer Service category can be found at participating attractions, hotels, nightspots, retail and dining establishments as well as the Singapore Visitors Centre from 1 May 2016 onwards.
Organisations can also self-nominate for the Experience Excellence, Enterprise Excellence and Customer Service categories through the Singapore Tourism Awards website.
The nomination period will close on 1 June 2016, after which evaluations will be conducted by a panel of local and international judges. Recipients will be announced in October 2016 at the Singapore Tourism Awards 2016 ceremony.
[1] Formerly Singapore Experience Awards
[2] The associations are: Association of Singapore Attractions, Singapore Hotel Association, Singapore Retailers Association, Restaurant Association of Singapore, Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers, National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, and Singapore Nightlight Business Association.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
