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SINGAPORE : Four tourist attractions from Singapore have received a 3-star rating from Michelin, the renowned French lifestyle surveyors.
Raffles Hotel, Botanic Gardens, Night Safari and the Singapore Zoological Gardens now join the ranks of famous international attractions like the Paris Eiffel Tower and New York Empire State Building, in having a 3-star Michelin rating.
Michelin, which has been publishing travel guides since 1900, only picked 25 countries in the world to feature.
And it is the first time that Michelin is publishing a travel guide on Singapore. The other Asian countries with this honour are China, Japan and Thailand.
Christian Delhaye, president, Worldwide Strategic Business Unit, Michelin Maps and Guides, said: "The Europeans are very interested in Singapore as a destination, it's an entry door to the Asian world."
To rank the sites, writers anonymously visited the attractions and assessed them according to criteria such as authenticity, aesthetics, service quality and convenience.
One out of every five visitors to Singapore consults a guidebook before they arrive.
Michelin sold 1.5 million guidebooks worldwide last year and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) hopes that the Singapore edition will boost tourism arrival numbers.
Close to 1.3 million Europeans visited Singapore last year. Double-digit growth rates were seen in tourist arrivals from Spain, Russia, Denmark and France.
The STB believes that the Michelin guide will not only help market Singapore to a Western audience, but to other Asian travellers as well.
Margaret Teo, assistant chief executive (leisure), Singapore Tourism Board, added: "Michelin intends to produce a pocket-sized version of the guide in Chinese, and that will be available for sale in China; and there is also a must-see guide, made available, targeting the India market.
"So with these two markets as one of our key source markets, I think that will value add to the experience of tourists from India and China."
Singapore aims to attract 17 million visitor arrivals and generate S$30 billion in tourism receipts by 2015. - CNA/ms
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