Singapore to host Asian tourism festival

Singapore will host a major travel and tourism festival in October to showcase business opportunities in a surging Asian market, organisers said.

Called TravelRave 2011, the event will string together a cluster of related events, from October 17 to 23, they said.

They included an ITB Asia travel fair, a retreat for policymakers and industry leaders hosted by the UN World Tourism Organisation, a conference on hotel and tourism investment, and an annual meeting of Asian convention and travel bureaus.

Organised by the Singapore Tourism Board, it is a follow-on to a first TravelRave last year that drew 8,000 people.

Aw Kaw Peng, the head of the Singapore Tourism Board, said it was the only “mega tourism and travel festival” in a region that saw 13 per cent growth in the number of international visitors last year over 2009.