Resorts World Sentosa official grand opening

Resorts World Sentosa celebrates its official grand opening

Resorts World Sentosa officially opened on Friday with anchor attractions like its Marine Life Park now in place.

A gala dinner was held this evening with 1,600 guests in attendance.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was the guest-of-honour.

The Marine Life Park is the world's largest oceanarium.

It is expected to feature new experiences such as shark and dolphin interaction programmes and sea trek diving.

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

RWS forecasts 17 million visitors

RWS forecasts 17 million visitors for 2013

(Photo: Resorts World Sentosa)

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has said it is expecting 17 million visitors for 2013 and plans to have more rooms to house guests.

It is looking at building more hotels away from the integrated resort to cater to cost-conscious travellers.

The first one, sited near the Jurong East train station, is targeted for completion by end-2014.

The plan is to offer four-star accommodation with some 500 rooms.

Visitors to RWS will soon see new attractions like a theme park ride based on the children's show "Sesame Street". The integrated resort is also introducing a new resident show at its Festive Grand theatre in 2013.

RWS has welcomed 45 million guests since its opening in 2010.

Genting Group, which owns the integrated resort, wants to lure potential visitors who may not wish to stay at its more expensive hotels.

Hence, the strategy is to site accommodation further away, not on prime land, to capture the market of travellers who prefer cheaper rooms.

While the novelty factor for Singaporeans is tapering off, RWS expects gaming revenue from foreigners to increase, though at a slower pace.

RWS said its strength lies in its ability to offer family-themed entertainment, apart from the casino. And Asia will remain its core market, with efforts to attract tourists geared towards the region.

Tan Hee Teck, chief executive of Resorts World Sentosa, said: "We have one great end-destination where someone can come here and spend three days, fully-occupied. I think there is no other destination, no other product that can compare with what we have."

RWS has 16 million visitors to date for 2012.

Its recently-opened Marine Life Park is expected to pull in an extra one million visitors to Sentosa the next year.

The park has attracted controversy for its import of dolphins.

Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Genting Group and Resorts World Sentosa, said: "These are not an endangered species, so it is really no different from, if you want to put it, the panda bears.

"So what is important here is that every care must be taken, and we are doing our best in that regards."

RWS has generated over 13,000 jobs. Seven in 10 staff are Singaporeans.

The integrated resort estimates it will re-coup its costs in three years or so.

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

Visitors flock to Singapore Zoo to eye Giant Pandas

Visitors flock to Singapore Zoo to eye Giant Pandas

Jia Jia (Francine Lim, channelnewsasia.com)

The two pandas from China, Kai Kai and Jia Jia, thrilled hordes of visitors on the opening day of the Giant Panda Forest on Thursday.

They were active, moving playfully around their enclosure, as visitors snapped photographs and filmed every action of the pandas.

Some visitors were at the Singapore Zoo, where the Panda Forest is located, before 8am - one hour before the panda's enclosure opened.

Each adult pays an extra S$5 while a child pays an additional S$3 to visit the pandas.

Each ticket holder has 15 minutes in the enclosure.

150 people can go into the enclosure per viewing session.

Tickets for the first few viewing sessions were quickly snapped up.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore said that more than 2,000 visitors met the panda couple on Thursday.

For many families, the outing to the Giant Panda Forest was a school holiday treat.

One mother, Madam Joycelyn Chew, said the visit was a reward for her two young daughters who had done well in their school examinations.

Another visitor, Mr Anond Suwanarat, was there at about 9am, hoping to be among the first to see the pandas.

But the tickets had already been snapped up.

He and his family managed to meet the pandas at 10.40am.

Business analyst Ms Manjula Abeyasinghe, who is on a holiday in Singapore with her family, cancelled plans to go to the Universal Studios Singapore when she heard that the panda enclosure would open to the public on Thursday.

The Giant Panda Forest is the first of the River Safari attractions to open to the public. The rest of the park is expected to be ready by early next year.

Meanwhile, a pair of limited edition female and male panda toys clad in the signature batik motif produced by Singapore Airlines (SIA) has raised S$427,000 for the Community Chest.

The fundraising drive started on September 8, when the panda toys were given to those who donated $20 or more at six locations.

The toy collectibles were then made available for donations on board selected SIA flights through KrisShop.

SIA said the money raised will be used to support programmes for children with special needs.

~/News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

Dolphin bound for Marine Life Park dies

Dolphin bound for Marine Life Park dies en route to Singapore

A male dolphin bound for Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has died on its flight to Singapore.

Wen Wen, which was estimated to be ten years old, died less than an hour before its plane landed in Singapore.

The dolphin was one of 11 on the three-hour long flight from the Philippines on Thursday.

A Marine Life Park spokesperson said that there were two marine mammal veterinarians and eight marine mammal specialists accompanying and monitoring the dolphins.

The dolphins were also given thorough medical examinations and were deemed healthy before the move.

Another 14 dolphins have already been transported earlier this week from Subic Bay, Philippines, where they were kept for training.

Animal welfare group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said that it was saddened by the loss and urged RWS to rehabilitate and release the remaining dolphins back into Solomon Islands waters.

There have been several attempts to block the Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins from being brought to Singapore.

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

Less satisfied with goods & services

Tourists less satisfied with S'pore goods and services: survey

A survey has found that tourists are less satisfied with the quality of goods and services in Singapore as compared to the year before.

The survey, done by Singapore Management University, saw a year-on-year drop in tourists' customer satisfaction levels.

On a scale of 100, the tourism sector scored 70 points this year, down from 73.5 points in 2011.

The survey polled some 2,500 tourists on their satisfaction levels with attractions, hotels and tour operators in Singapore.

Hotels lead the dip in tourist satisfaction levels, with customer satisfaction levels dropping by 8.2 per cent.

Satisfaction with tour operators, which include travel and ticketing agencies also fell by 6.5 per cent while attractions also logged a 4.6 per cent drop.

Attractions involved in the survey include Universal Studios Singapore, Sentosa and the Singapore Zoological Gardens, among others.

The food and beverage sector saw customer satisfaction levels remain unchanged, with the sector scoring 67.7 points, a marginal improvement of 0.3 points over 2011 results.

On the whole the survey found that tourists were more satisfied with the sector than locals.

The poll also recommended that businesses not under-promise customers, in hopes of over-delivering.

"Putting your resources to reduce expectation essentially lowers your competitiveness. So which then means… is it worthwhile to reduce expectation?" said Caroline Lim, director at the Institute of Service Excellence, Singapore Management University

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

World's largest oceanarium opens

World's largest oceanarium opens Nov 22 at RWS

The Open Ocean Habitat at the Marine Life Park's S.E.A Aquarium possesses the world's largest aquarium viewing panel that is 36 metres wide, 8.3m tall and 70 centremetres thick. (photo: Francine Lim)

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) will open the world's largest oceanarium on November 22.

The S.E.A Aquarium, which is one of the attractions of the Marine Life Park, will be home to 100,000 marine animals of over 800 species in 45 million litres of water.

The centrepiece of the Aquarium is the Open Ocean Habitat with a viewing panel that stands at 8.3 metres tall by 36 metres wide.

Visitors can expect to see manta rays, hammerhead sharks, bottlenose dolphins and other marine creatures.

Thrill-seekers can also look forward to the opening of another attraction, the Adventure Cove Waterpark, which features six water slides as well as one of the world's longest lazy-rivers.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to snorkel with thousands of fish at the Rainbow Reef.

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~

Haji Lane