New Unique Tours Draw Americans to Singapore But Creators Face Cost Issues
Photo Credit: A Singapore neighborhood. Runako Godfrey, Flickr
Skift Take
A new generation of entrepreneurs is creating unique tours for visitors to Singapore. But fighting legacy tour players and online travel giants only makes the high costs of doing business harder to do business.
It was not too long ago when busloads of Asian tourists pulling up to the Orchard Road shopping belt and other classic sites in Singapore defined the city’s tourism landscape.
But today googly-eyed travelers, enabled by an explosion of online content, are breaking out of the traditional tourism bubble to experience the pulse of the city and get closer to hidden local realities.
New players are entering the city's tours industry to answer this demand, creating fresh itineraries that give visitors privileged insider access to different facets of the destination. Yet the costs of these tours is a struggle for these new entrants.
One such operator is Tribe, which offers its signature “disappearing trades” tour, as well as highbrow programs such as those themed around the city’s unique urban planning story.
Law Yock Song, director and partnership head of Tribe, shared, “Our disappearing trades tour includes three stops, all centered on private access to artisans who ar
