Lion City offers more than shops

SHOPPING and sightseeing in Singapore remain attractive to most Hong Kong travellers heading to the city on holiday, for business or to visit friends and relatives.

And while Singapore's retailers continue to tempt Hong Kong people, tourism authorities hope to draw travellers to the city's other fascinating diversions.

Michael Yeo, the new head of Singapore Tourism Promotion Board's Hong Kong office, said: ''Singapore has a lot of other attractions, not only shopping. Compared with other destinations in this region, Singapore is the best place for families to visit.'' Mr Yeo moved a few weeks ago from Taipei and assumed his post as general manager for China and Hong Kong.

Citing the city's cleanliness, safety and stable social order, Mr Yeo said Singapore provided an inviting environment for travellers with children.

''We have the best resources for families. There are a lot of children-based attractions, and most of them are entertaining and have educational content,'' Mr Yeo said.

''I would recommend a visit to the Jurong Bird Park, Zoological Garden, Science Museum, Guinness World of Records exhibits, and the resort island, Sentosa.'' Government regulations, including anti-smoking and anti-littering laws, make the city's public places a pleasant environment. Smoking is banned on public buses, in lifts, theatres, cinemas, government offices, restaurants and air-conditioned shopping centres.

Mr Yeo said families could travel to the island on long weekends.

Several theme parks, entertainment facilities, museums, Sentosa's Asian Village, gardens, nature reserves and river cruises offer a range of diversions - and more tourist attractions are being built.

Sentosa, Singapore's holiday island, is adding three more attractions - Fantasy Island Water Theme Park, Volcanoland Theme Park, and Adventure Golf Theme Park.

Another recent addition, Singapore's nocturnal adventure, the Night Safari, is where various species of wildlife roam in a 40-hectare jungle setting.

These are some of the reasons travellers choose Singapore.

Mr Yeo said Singapore was attractive because it fulfilled many of the factors people considered in choosing a destination.

''These included the standard of service in hotels, choice of products for shoppers, the choice of cuisine, cleanliness in the city, transport services and safety and comfort.'' The city-resort combination that Singapore offered, wide-spread use of English in the city and the multicultural environment also contributed to the island's attractiveness.

Mr Yeo said he would evaluate the Hong Kong market before launching campaigns to draw Hong Kong travellers to the Lion City.

''Three million Hong Kong people leave this city every year, so there is tremendous potential here,'' he said.

Mr Yeo said visitor numbers showed that Hong Kong was ''a maturing market'', compared with Taiwan and South Korea.

''Growth in visitors from Hong Kong last year was encouraging,'' he said.

Last year, more than 252,000 Hong Kong travellers went to Singapore, which represented nearly nine per cent growth over the previous year.

Most were on holiday trips, and spent an average of three days in Singapore. Their numbers represented slightly less than four per cent of total visitor arrivals.

Singapore surpassed the six million tourists mark for the first time last year - 6.4 million. The industry generated S$9.36 billion (HK$47.8 billion) during the period.

The number of visitors from China increased 142 per cent to more than 225,000, as this group emerged as Singapore's eighth-largest tourist market.

Arrivals of Chinese represented the biggest growth. The increase last year was on top of nearly 120 per cent growth in 1992.

A Singapore Tourist Promotion Board survey shows visitors from Hong Kong spent $12,240 on average last year on shopping, splashing out about $2,482 per day.

More than half the travellers from Hong Kong went to Singapore on holiday last year. About eight per cent of those surveyed were visiting friends and relatives. Business travellers from the territory made up 18.9 per cent of all tourists on business trips in Singapore.

Tourists from ASEAN led the visitors to Singapore, followed by Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Britain, the United States, Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Germany, according to the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board.

Last year, there were 1,266 flights by 57 carriers a week into Singapore.