Funworld June 2011

It took 40 years, a 10-year rolling master plan, and billions of dollars to transform Sentosa Island. But the story hasn’t ended. Following years of steady growth, Sentosa now strives to become more alluring even though it already offers anchor tenant Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore’s first integrated resort, which opened just last year with a Universal Studios theme park and Genting-owned casino.

Tasked with the role of Sentosa’s continuing transformation is Mike Barclay, who in 2008 became the 10th leader of Sentosa Leisure Group. Funworld talks with the chief executive officer to discover how Sentosa lives up to its “Asia’s Favourite Playground” slogan.

How has Sentosa changed since it began as a tourist destination in 1972?
Right from the outset, when it was decided that Sentosa was to be a leisure island, there were two key objectives. First there was to be a place for play and relaxation for Singaporeans. Equally important was to help drive the economy of Singapore by attracting tourists here and make it a real interesting and vibrant destination. The success of Sentosa is in part due to the fact that there has been no variation from these two objectives over the years.

We want all our guests to have wonderful memories with family and friends on a great island. We are in the fun business; it might sound superficial to say that, but we really are, and we work hard at it.

Sentosa has an incredible breadth of stakeholders because of this mission; we need to appeal to locals and tourists, and at the same time anchor potentially high net worth of individuals in Singapore.

What are some trends you have observed?
Guests come to us with a better understanding of what’s on offer but also with higher expectations, because they have tried other leisure destinations. What we offer has to have value for money and authenticity. We recognize it’s no longer enough to have one or two good attractions; we need good clusters of attractions that meet with individuals’ expectations and lifestyle aspirations.

There’s also a shift toward more vibrancy in Singapore as a whole, and that’s reflected on our island. More tourists are staying longer because they now see there is more than enough to do in Singapore to make it a mono destination holiday. Sentosa has a major part to play in that with its string of hotels and island attractions.

In our infrastructure planning, we have prepared for up to 25 million in annual visitors. A peak day now consists of about 140,000 guests.

What are your key markets?
In calendar year 2009 Sentosa attracted 6.2 million guests, which at that time was a record number for us. In 2010 we had 17.7 million guests, which is a massive quantum shift. Clearly Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) has been a major catalyst in this, but about half of those guests also visited other leisure activities of the island. Outside of RWS we’ve seen a shift from 6.2 million to 8.5 million visitors.

In terms of mix, Sentosa’s received 55 percent foreigners and 45 percent residents. We attract four out of 10 tourists who come to Singapore, which is a good hit rate considering a significant number do not come for leisure activities. Penetration of markets varies: Eight out of 10 tourists from India spend some time on Sentosa; Malaysia and China are big growth markets; Vietnam is on its way up; Japan has traditionally been in the top 10 markets, but clearly the recent events would have some impact on that; Australia is showing more growth on what has been traditionally a strong growth market.

We engage each market differently, depending on what the guest expectation is. But we know we must be strong in the area of guest experience, and our focus is on quality.

How do you define a quality guest experience?
We want to eliminate frustrations and maximize the opportunities to fascinate our guests. Another is to simplify processes and streamline wayfinding within the island. Our recently launched Play Passes allow guests to take a big chunk of the island and follow their whims. PDA-enabled app “My Sentosa” gives information on the attractions in English. It will prompt users on special promotions too.

Everything we anchor on the island really stands out on its own merit. We have 200 attractions, food and beverage, hotels, and retailers on the island who, upon lease expiry, are asked to up their game.

What sort of biodiversity can guests enjoy here?
We are aware that if we overdevelop, we will lose the special recipe for success we have on the island. That’s why we’ve embedded in our master plan that 60 percent of the island remains green. Increasingly, we will be recycling existing plots rather than taking over new plots for development. Our focus in reforestation is to establish primary forest species that are indigenous to Sentosa. We have eight distinct habitats, and we are keen that they flourish. We’ve initiated a biodiversity study and try to think about planting that best fits the flora and fauna of the island.

Is Sentosa Leisure Group at risk of losing out to Resorts World Sentosa?
RWS is our biggest island partner at 10 percent landmass and has brought in some of the biggest investments and attractions. It is complementary to the island. We see more people going to Universal Studios also visiting the beach in the evening and playing golf. So there are wider and multiple uses for guests who visit Sentosa.

How about competition off the island? How does Sentosa compare to other leisure attractions in Asia Pacific?
We struggle when we try to benchmark the whole of the island, because it is a fairly unusual proposition. The nearest thing in the world that can compare to Sentosa is Paradise Island in the Bahamas, which has a mixture of theme park, casino, golf, and so on.

A lot of people put emphasis on numbers. We’ve reached 17.7 million and that puts us in a major league. The most popular theme park, Walt Disney World, clocked 70.2 million in 2009; but it isn’t fair to compare, as we are not really a theme park. If you are looking at an Asian map, there isn’t anything similar to Sentosa anywhere else. We are not a common recipe.

What did you personally bring to the table as CEO?
In my current mandate, I am aware it’s a 40-year project. I am a keen runner in the line of CEOs who have previously contributed a lot. I’ve come in at a time of tremendous growth, and we are working hard on the infrastructural improvements and quality to meet guest expectations. I don’t see this as a personal achievement; I see it as a sign of the times— I think you look up and see what’s needed for the environment, and you put your head down and deliver what is necessary. www.sentosa.com.sg

Mallika Naguran is a freelance writer and editor based in Singapore, specializing in hospitality, tourism, and environment.