Good morning
1. I am pleased to join you at this year’s Tourism Industry Conference, an annual forum where the industry comes together with stakeholders to take stock of our progress we’ve made and also to think ahead for some of the challenges and opportunities ahead of us.
2. Let me begin by taking the opportunity to pay a tribute to our founding Prime Minister, the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Mr Lee Kuan Yew had an unwavering belief in Singapore’s potential to flourish as a distinctive city-state; and he was ceaseless in his efforts to realise that promise. He and his pioneering team of Cabinet colleagues and others in the civil service conceived important initiatives to build a better life for Singaporeans; many of these also helped to lay strong foundations for Singapore’s tourism industry.
3. One example was Mr Lee’s vision for Singapore to become a “Garden City”. It was an effort to reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable – the bustle of a thriving metropolis with the soothing calm of a verdant natural environment. It was a vivid and powerful vision that galvanised a national effort that endures to this day. The growth of our nature attractions stands as testament to this - from the Singapore Zoological Gardens and Botanic Gardens, to the world-renowned Night Safari, River Safari, and Gardens by the Bay. The nature-themed attraction planned for Mandai will be another milestone in that endeavour.