Tourism

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) coordinates tourism policy, aiming to expand traditional sectors such as business and leisure tourism while also pursuing hospital and education tourism. The STB is currently drafting a ten year Tourism Master Plan.

The tourism industry is a major source of foreign earnings, but in Singapore the control of dengue and chikungunya poses a challenge. As a business/tourism hub in an endemic region for many such diseases, it could be vulnerable to the introduction of new infections through travel and trade and receptive to outbreaks because of the presence of mosquito vector species. However, its geographic location is also a benefit in the tourism market, with Singapore gaining much stopover tourist traffic due to its position as a regional transport hub. Government policies aim at nature-based tourism and as a destination for education and healthcare.