WHETHER THE PRESENCE OF A SIGNIFICANT INDIAN-ORIGIN POPULATION IN SINGAPORE ATTRACTS INDIAN TOURISTS Urmila Anand & Sayonee S Christ University ABSTRACT Singapore and India s cultural and economic ties date back to the pre-colonial antecedents. One of the major parts of these ties is tourism. Singapore s tourism has been growing over the years, with India being a large contributor. There are several factors influencing Indians to choose Singapore as their travel destination. In this article, we aim to establish and evaluate the relationship between the increasing Indian tourists to Singapore and the similarities in cultures of the 2 nations, the main contributor being the large presence of Indian-origin population in Singapore. Another objective of the research is to determine some of the other contributing factors to the increased growth of Indians tourists in Singapore. 1. Growth of Tourism in Singapore and India-Singapore Tourism Relations Tourism is one the fastest growing sectors in the world economy, with its global contributions constantly rising. With this in mind, the bilateral tourism between India and Singapore is booming. India is the 3 rd largest source of tourists for Singapore. Singapore, which is one of the most developed countries in the world, and part of big Asian blocks such as the ASEAN and APEC, attracts tourists from across the globe. India contributed to Singapore s tourism receipts in a significant manner. These receipts form a major part of Singapore s GDP and foreign reserves. Singapore s demographic build, which consists of various ethnicities, majorly includes Chinese, Malays and Indians. Therefore, its culture is an integration of the cultures of these 3 countries. These 3 counties are also the largest and most prominent source of Singapore s inbound tourism. Many higher income Indians also travel to Singapore, not just on vacation, but also for business related trips. This is a result of strong economic relations between the two countries. The Singapore Tourism Board has constantly updated its policies and programmes with changes in the global environment. For instance, it spent $5 million in 2013 on developing dining, pop-up entertainment and its shopping experience. This allows tourists to not just explore the country once, but enjoy it recurrently. The richer Indians make frequent trips to Singapore only with the objective of shopping; hence, they end up going repeatedly. 2. Theoretical Framework Singapore is one of the most popular tourist destinations of the world. It was ranked 13 th in the world in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2017. There were 12,051,929 million arrivals in Singapore. (Forum, 2017) With its growing tourism market, Singapore receives tourists from all around the world. Tourism in Singapore has contributed heavily to the economy of the country. Tourism s share in the nominal GDP rose from 3.3% in 2015 to 3.7% in 2016. Between 2010 and 2016, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the tourists to Singapore is 5.9%. This growth was a result of better infrastructure provision and more attractions. Singapore receives majority of its tourists from China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Australia. The reason for the growth of the incoming tourism from these 3 countries is that a large number of tourists come from the big cities. For instance, India s contribution to Singapore tourism has increased because people come from big cities, which have a higher capacity to spend and the need to explore or indulge in adventure. (Industry, 2017) The joint action plan of tourism was signed between India and Singapore in August, 2009, in order to increase awareness regarding the attractions in both the countries and to market third countries, included in the ASEAN, and China. The cultural exchange between the two counties is also facilitated through travel and tourism. Singaporeans travelling to India have it easy in terms of visas with visa on arrival. The highest growth rate for the number of Indian outbound tourists to Singapore was 287
experienced in 1995-2001at 10.3%. So Singapore moved from the 12 th position in 1995 to 9 th in 2001 as the most popular tourist destination for Indians. (Singh & Rehman, 2010) India s visitor arrivals grew by 8% in 2016. The tier I and tier II cities in India were a source of most of the visitors to Singapore. India also surpassed Australia and became the 4 th largest market for the visitor arrivals (Board, 2017). One of the reasons Indians flocked to Singapore was cruise ships. Singapore is the starting point for many of the cruises. About a 100,000 Indians sailed from Singapore in 2016, with India becoming the biggest market. (Board, 2017) The 2017 expenditure of middle class Indians on tourism abroad was 773.3 billion rupees with a CAGR of 10%, and expected to reach 1 trillion rupees by 2020. (International, 2017). India s outbound tourism has the potential to grow to 50 million by 2020. Dubai, USA, Thailand and Singapore are the top choices for Indian tourists. This growing number trend in tourism is caused because of a good GDP growth rate of India, access to more accurate and proper information, the availability of cheap air tickets through low cost carriers, and the increased ease of travelling. (Dasgupta, 2017) For Indians, while choosing a destination, safety is of the biggest concern. This is reflected highly in selecting places such as Singapore, UK and Australia. Value is another important factor. Indians, especially the richer segment of the population, are ready to spend large amounts on experiences and travel, seek a value benefits on the amount they spend. Indians are also open to seeking many kinds of experiences, whether it s nature-related, culture-related or that of the big and lavish city life. Another theme for big cities such as Singapore is shopping. Many of the higher class Indians travel to Singapore and the United States with the objective of shopping. (Assosciation, 2015) As per the data published by the Singapore government, Indians constitute 9%of the total Singaporean population. (Singapore, 2017) Figure 1: Ethnic composition of the Singapore population This indicates that the Indian presence in Singapore is significant. Being the 3 rd largest ethnic group, the culture of the country is influenced by India. Tamil, an Indian language, is one of the national languages of Singapore and Hinduism is a largely followed religion. The indian residents in Singapore are mostly Tamilians, others being Bengalis, Gujratis, Malayaalis, Punjabis, and Telugus. An example of the impact of Indian cuture on that of the Singaporean culture is the availability of Indian cable TV channels such as ZeeTv in Singapore. These Indian channels telecast travel documentaries and cookery shows, all largely influencing Indians in Singapore. This arouses a curiosity for Indians to travel to Singapore to find and explore points of similarities and differences between the two cultures. (Kaur & Yahya, 2010) 3. Methodology The following research article contains findings obtained using quantitative and qualitative methods. The data is primary in nature, collected using a self-formulated questionnaire. The sample size was 100 that consisted of Indians from the South, North and Central India. All the respondents have travelled to Singapore at least once. The questionnaire aims at finding out the various reasons why people travel to Singapore and whether the presence of a comforting Indian population affects their travel decisions. It also analyses the different trends of Indian outbound travel to Singapore. The respondents consisted of 53 females, and 47 males and another who didn t disclose his/her gender. 61% of the total respondents were of the age bracket 18-25 years, 16% belonged to the 26-40 age group, 11% of them were 41-55 years of age and 12% were 55 years and above. 288
The questionnaire aims at finding out exactly how the respondents planned their trip to Singapore, how they prefer travelling and their overall experience, which depended on factors which have also been enlisted in the questionnaire. The final data is analysed using the data interpretation software SPSS. This paper aims to ascertain if there is a psychological relationship between the tourists from India and the existent Indian population of Singapore. 4. Relationship between the comfort of the visit and the similarity of cultures of the 2 countries Culture affects tourism to a great extent. As we know, Singapore has a large Indian population, which share cultures in terms of language and religion. People often travel to embrace the similarities or differences of the cultures. We aim to find out if Singapore having a similar culture to that of India s attracts Indian tourists to visit the country. To establish correlation, H 0 : There is no relation between the comfort of the visit for Indians and the similarity of cultures of the two countries. H 1 : There is a relation between the comfort of the visit for Indians and the similarity of cultures of the two countries. Table 1: Test of significance for Comfort of visit and Similarities in cultures Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymp. Sig. (2- sided) Pearson Chi-Square 2.097 a 4.718 Likelihood Ratio 1.809 4.771 N of Valid Cases 100 a. 6 cells (60.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is.15. The test of significance of the chi-square for the two variables is 0.718, which reflects that the 2 variables have a high positive correlation. Considering Indians form about 9% of Singapore s population, Indians travelling to Singapore are psychologically more drawn to Singapore, as they have people of their own community or people they can fall back on in the worst cases. Table 2: Percentages and Count of the 2 variables Comfort of visit Comfort of visit * 19. Was there a similarity between Indian culture and Singapore-Indian culture? 19. Was there a similarity between Indian culture and Singapore-Indian culture? Agree Disagree Neutral Strongly agree Strongly disagree Count 1 1 1 0 0 3 No % of 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.0% Residual -.3.7 -.1 -.2 -.2 Count 42 9 35 6 5 97 % of Yes 42.0% 9.0% 35.0% 6.0% 5.0% 97.0% Residual.3 -.7.1.2.2 Count 43 10 36 6 5 100 % of 43.0% 10.0% 36.0% 6.0% 5.0% 100.0% 43 out of the 97 respondents who found the trip comfortable agree that there is a striking similarity between Indian and Singaporean culture that is 42%. Studies suggest that people tend to feel alienated in foreign countries because they face a culture shock, therefore, Indians choose Singapore as a frequent family destination. Many Indians prefer travelling with their families and tend to feel safe and protected if they find people of similar origin and cultures. For instance, many Tamilian families choose to go to Singapore because of the importance of their culture in Singapore. They even find it convenient to communicate with the locals because of common language; hence, they are never lost or detached. 289
4.1 Singapore tourism and safety One of the reasons the respondents whose first international holiday was Singapore picked this is their location is safety in terms of political and overall safety. The correlation between the 2 factors is extremely high. H 0: There is no relationship between Singapore being the first tourist spot for Indians and the safety level in Singapore H 1 : There is a significant relationship between Singapore being the first tourist spot for Indians and the safety level in Singapore Table 3: Test of significance of Singapore as a first time holiday destination and safety levels Chi-Square Tests Value df Asymp. Sig. (2- sided) Pearson Chi-Square.550 a 4.968 Likelihood Ratio.552 4.968 N of Valid Cases 98 a. 4 cells (40.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 2.30. The significance levels are 0.968, which is greater than 0.5, indicating highly positive correlation between the 2 variables. Table 4: Percentages and Count of the 2 variables Was Singapore your first international holiday destination? And The convenience or feasibility of the trip was affected by these factors to what extent? Rate on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being lowest and 5 being highest [Safety (overall and political safety)] The convenience or feasibility of the trip was affected by these factors to what extent? Rate on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being lowest and 5 being highest [Safety (overall and political safety)] 1 2 3 Count 3 2 10 No % of 3.1% 2.0% 10.2% Was Singapore your first international holiday destination? Residual.2 -.3.4 Count 3 3 11 Yes % of 3.1% 3.1% 11.2% Residual -.2.3 -.4 Count 6 5 21 % of 6.1% 5.1% 21.4% 290
18. The convenience or feasibility of the trip was affected by these factors to what extent? Rate on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being lowest and 5 being highest [Safety (overall and political safety)] 4 5 Count 11 19 45 No % of 11.2% 19.4% 45.9% 6. Was Singapore your first international holiday destination? Residual -1.4 1.1 Count 16 20 53 Yes % of 16.3% 20.4% 54.1% Residual 1.4-1.1 Count 27 39 98 % of 27.6% 39.8% 100.0% From the analysis, 20 respondents out of the total 53 that had Singapore as their first holiday destination that is 20.4%, rated safety a 5 on the scale of importance. Safety remains a most important concern for selecting it as a first-time holiday destination. Indians perceive safety in terms of the country being terror-free and politically stable. The importance of safety as a factor is evident even for the respondents who didn t choose Singapore as their first international destination. 19.4% of the total rated safety as a 5. Because Singapore is a safe country, Indians travel frequently. Also Indian women tend to choose Singapore as a holiday destination, citing the reason of it being extremely safe. Figure 2: How the respondents prefer travelling Out of 100 respondents, 47% of the people prefer travelling with their families because most of them find it comforting to travel with families the Indian culture gives high importance to family culture and 30% with their friends, as they enjoy travelling in the company of their near and dear ones. 12% like travelling alone as they believe that it s a way of rediscovering oneself and 11% prefer travelling in large groups because they find it comforting to travel in groups among similar cultures, so they don t feel alienated in foreign lands. 291
Figure 3: Which part of India the respondents hail from It can be observed that majority of the Indians travelling to Singapore are from South Indian states resulting to 63.6% because travel to Singapore from these states are faster and less expensive compared to other countries and also because Singapore has a large Tamil population, naturally drawing more south Indians. 18.2% of the tourists are from central India as well as 18.2% from North India which are comparatively lesser than the North. Figure 4: How comfortable they found their visit A majority of 97 out of 100 respondents found their trip to be comfortable and satisfying overall, where as 3 people didn t think it was up to their standards. Majority of the respondents find it convenient because of the easy availability of Indian food available in restaurants that cater to the tastes and preferences of Indian Pallets because of a large Indian population base. Figure 5: Factor that led them to decide Singapore as a destination 292
Most people chose Singapore as their holiday destination because of the positive suggestions they received from their friends and family who ve visited Singapore and have had a good experience. Singapore is a major tourist hub and has many internet suggestions and convenient group tour packages also making it a rather popular choice to choose Singapore as a tourist destination. Other reasons for traveling that haven t been listed include visiting friends or family living in Singapore. Conferences, business and work related trips, school/university level competitions or international lever competitions Figure 6: The importance of distance, cost, safety, and familiarity while travelling abroad It can be inferred from the following that Indians travelling to Singapore don t take into consideration the distance factor, which implies that the distance of a country from the home country isn t of utmost importance. India has a large composition of population, most of the middle or high level income groups don t really look at the cost of the tour, as long as it includes everything they like and are satisfied with their experience. Safety and political stability is of utmost importance of a majority of the tourists hence Singapore is the choice of travel as the crime rate is very low and it has a very stable government. Another major reason as to why tourists choose Singapore is because of the large Indian population that makes them feel like they re closer to home and less isolated in a new country. Such issues are usually faced by first-timers or older tourists. 5. Conclusion India s outbound travelling has been increasing over the years and is expected to potentially increase in the coming years. With India s growing GDP per year, more household have money and the means to spend abroad. According to the Singapore tourism board (Industry, 2017), the outbound travel to this region is said to be robust, especially from India because of the rising incomes of households and a growing population of the middle class. From our research paper, we initially aimed to establish a relationship between the large presences of Indians in Singapore and whether this factor drew Indian tourists to Singapore, We came to the conclusion that there is an indirect yet strong relationship between these two factors, because of a psychological factor. The presence of a large Indian population in Singapore translates into a striking similarity of the two nations- culturally. This results in the Indian travellers feeling a sense of cultural, social security. This helps them get adjusted easily and feel secure in a completely foreign land, enhancing the overall experience of their trip. Indian families travelling abroad for the first time are apprehensive about the location, distance and the prevailing culture, so travelling to a seemingly familiar place like Singapore makes them feel like their home, away from home. Another factor as to why Indians choose Singapore as their holiday destination is the excessive awareness which is gained through Marketing, online platforms and high recommendations from travel desks makes Singapore a tourist hotspot Even solo travellers and women find Singapore convenient because of its political stability and safety. 293
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