Volume 3, No. 8. April 25, 2003
Health
wish
After a lifetime
in the amusement and tourism industry, Darrell Metzger, the CEO of Singapore’s
Sentosa Development Corporation, has learned to ride out the bumps in the road,
no matter how big or bewildering they may be.
“I wouldn’t have thought a few months ago that terrorism and war would
take the back seat to something else,” Metzger said. “I was surprised
by that one.”
That “one” is SARS, the mysterious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
illness that has crippled China, Toronto and Singapore and continues to haunt
the global tourism industry. The situation in the Pacific Rim is such that the
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions canceled its Asian
Amusement Expo scheduled for July 16-18 at the Singapore International Convention
and Exhibition Center (See story in Extra!
Extra!).
Metzger understands IAAPA’s decision and supports it, though he’s
certain that by July the SARS epidemic will be an afterthought in Singapore,
where the government’s response to the initial outbreak was more thorough
and up front than that of China. “I’m in the middle of it, and it’s
in the press every day here, but life goes on,” he said. “You can
walk around here and in a whole day not see people in a mask. But that’s
all you see in the press. Where are the photographers finding all these people
wearing masks?”
Life goes on, perhaps, but all is not normal. His resort island’s attendance
dipped 40 percent last month; “now it’s up to 25 percent down,”
he said. “That’s the good news. Isn’t that sick that that’s
good news?” The corporation has had to lay off almost all of its part-time
employees, which makes up 30 percent of the work force, instituted pay cuts
for all employees, and deferred all nonessential expenses.
And Sentosa is one of the lucky ones. The Singapore Tourism Bureau said that
tourism was down 68 percent the first two weeks of April. “That is a huge
number,” Metzger said, and it jibes with the 70 percent drop at Sentosa’s
Underwater World Aquarium, the one attraction on the resort relying almost entirely
on tourism.
Yet, there was Sentosa Development Corporation last week announcing a $20 million
(US$11.2 million) redevelopment plan for its Siloso Beach district to be completed
by May 2004 (see story in Extra!
Extra!). There was Sentosa this week announcing a partnership with MediaCorp
TV, one of Singapore’s leading media firms, to co-produce three events
on the island in each of the next three years, a $12 million (US$6.7 million)
deal. Both of these are part of the resort’s $3 billion (US$1.7 billion),
10-year strategic plan to revitalize the island. Despite war and disease, Sentosa
Development Corporation is bullish on its future.
“For us it’s the right time to invest, because when these products
start coming on line there will be pent-up demand,” Metzger said. He is
counting on the local market rebounding in two months, and the regional market
returning shortly after. “The Asian market reacts and responds very quickly,”
he said. “They’re resilient. As soon as they hear it’s OK, they’re
gone. My experience is that when we have these kinds of problems, it always
hits us harder than we thought it would initially, but it comes back a lot faster
than we thought it would.”
As for AAE’s cancellation, Metzger opines that in IAAPA’s first year
of owning the show outright, the association would have cheated itself if it
had only been able to put on an average show. Now it has a year to gear up for
a bigger and better show, and Sentosa will, by then, be bigger and better, too.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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