Closure of Tourism-related and Retail Businesses and Efforts to Stimulate Growth In These Sectors

13 Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how many companies in the tourism-related and retail sectors have closed down since January 2020; (b) what is the employment situation in the tourism sector including number of tour guides who have been redeployed; and (c) what further efforts can the made to stimulate local retail demand and transform the tourism sector to position themselves for future growth opportunities.

The Minister of State for Trade and Industry (Mr Alvin Tan) (for the Minister for Trade and Industry): From January 2020 to September 2021, 8,600 retail businesses ceased operations. This was 330 more than the same period between 2018 and 2019. However, there were 15,570 new retail businesses set up, resulting in a net increase of 6,970 retail firms over the same period from January 2020 to September 2021.

For the tourism industry, despite some exits since January 2020, new entrants have kept the number of tourism businesses in operation fairly stable. For example, the number of licensed hotels today remains at around 420 despite 13 hotels having ceased operations. The total number of licensed tourist guides is still around 2,900, even with 175 tourist guides choosing not to renew their licences during this period. Travel agents, unfortunately, have been impacted more – 157 travel agents ceased their operations. This represent 8% of all licensed travel agents, although around 30 new travel agents entered the market.

The Government has supported the sector with the highest tier of support under the Jobs Support Scheme. Together with other broad-based Government support measures, this has helped cushion the impact of COVID-19 on the sector. Initiatives such as the SingapoRediscovers Vouchers (SRV) scheme have also helped stimulate demand by encouraging Singaporeans to rediscover our city, our tourism product offerings and support local tourism businesses, including those for travel agents.

The launch of the SRV scheme has also helped tourist guides. Between the launch of the SRV scheme and the start of the Heightened Alert in May 2021, monthly tour participants grew fivefold from just over 10,000 to more than 50,000. To further help our tourist guides cope with business costs, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also waived the tourist guide licence fees in 2020 and 2021, as well as test fees for those who wish to be licensed in another language.

STB expects tourism to reach pre-pandemic levels in the next few years. In the meantime, we are helping companies in the retail and tourism sectors transform and upgrade themselves so that they can better capture opportunities when travel resumes.

With regard to retailers, for retailers looking to develop their online sales channels, they can receive support from Enterprise Singapore’s (ESG) E-Commerce Booster Package, which defrays the costs of joining e-commerce platforms, or use ESG’s Productivity Solutions Grant to build capabilities in areas such as digital marketing as well as e-commerce. The tourism sector is also receiving support from STB to pursue transformation efforts to ready itself for the recovery. Examples include the Business Improvement Fund for technology innovation and the adoption of business models and processes to improve productivity and competitiveness; and the Training Industry Professionals in Tourism scheme which supports employee upgrading and talent and leadership development.

Mr Speaker: Mr Saktiandi Supaat.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh): Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister of State for the answers. It is good to hear the Minister of State mentioned that the SRV scheme that has been very useful for the retail and tourism sector. But he did share that there were 157 travel agents which have ceased operations.

My supplementary question is, in particular, about those working in the tourism and retail sector. I have a number of residents who used to work or are working in the tourism and retail sectors, which have been in partial limbo over the past one and a half years. My question is, whether we have the number of tour guides or retail frontline workers who have switched industries or switched jobs permanently.

Can I also ask about the status of our local travel agencies in Singapore, and if they will survive, going forward? Also, what outlook can we expect for the retail sector and the travel agency business in this endemic scenario that we are going to face over the next year or so?

Mr Alvin Tan: I thank the Member for his supplementary questions. Let me go to our tourism sector first. Between January 2020 and 20 October 2021, 4,373 workers were retrenched across the core tourism industries, 58% of whom were locals. However, with early intervention and support under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Initiative, 67% of the locals, who were retrenched between January and September 2020, found new employment within six months.

With regard to the tourist guides, while we do not track the redeployment of tourist guides, close to 250 tourist guides have served as Safe Distancing Ambassadors with STB.

As I mentioned earlier on in my reply, the SRV scheme has also helped local tourist guides with monthly tour participants growing fivefold between the launch of the SRV scheme and the start of the Heightened Alert in May 2021. I also mentioned earlier on STB waiving the tourist guide licence fees as well as test fees.

So, all of these in concert, and all of these in totality, are helping preserve our capability in our tourism sector, which is an important sector, while we await the recovery in global travel as well as the tourism industry. But we must preserve this. The SRV, for example, helps us to create new product offerings locally, with tourist guides forming new products. I think it will put them in good stead for when travel resumes in earnest, and when tourists come to Singapore and are able to enjoy the sights and sounds here in Singapore.

Just back to the retail question. In 2020, 1,180 retail employees had been retrenched. This translates to 16.9 retrenched employees per 1,000 employees. Of these retrenched employees, 56% were able to enter a different industry within six months after retrenchment.

But I also wanted to share a little bit about Enterprise Singapore's Retail Industry Transformation Map (ITM), as a forward-looking roadmap for our retail industry.

The Retail ITM has done a study and they have looked across the key trends in the retail industry. The key trends are digitalisation, on-demand retail, hyper-personalisation of goods, in effect, and conscious consumerism, which is very much related to the sustainability trend that we are seeing. So, we are supporting our retail sector to take on and to ride these trends, moving forward.