Tcube: Driving Singapore's tourism industry forward

As the tourism industry undergoes a digital evolution, businesses face a critical need for innovative solutions to meet evolving consumer demands. Explore how Tcube empowers businesses to navigate this transformative journey with confidence and success.

The digital transformation landscape is replete with buzzwords like AI (artificial intelligence), IoT (internet of things), CRM (customer relationship management), RPA (robotic process automation), ML (machine learning), AR (augmented reality), and VR (virtual reality). Whilst these can offer a wide breadth of opportunities, they also pose daunting challenges for business leaders, especially those in the tourism and hospitality industry.

Questions about tech investments, operational changes, staff training, and expected outcomes loom large amongst these organisations, with concerns regarding the success of transformation haunting many endeavours.

According to a survey by PulsePoint Group, a staggering 84% of digital transformations fail, contributing to hesitancy amongst businesses to disrupt what already works for them.

Enter Tcube of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), designed as a one-stop tech resource tailored specifically for tourism-related businesses.

Through Tcube, the Singapore Tourism Board can offer its wealth of expertise and resources in innovation and technology to support tourism stakeholders in their digital transformation journey, where Tcube can provide a range of initiatives to address their challenges at different stages to make it accessible for business leaders to get started.

For instance, the Tourism Transformation Index (TXI) empowers companies to perform self-diagnostic tests to identify gaps and map out their transformation plans. By utilising TXI, businesses gain valuable insights into their digital readiness and receive tailored recommendations to navigate their transformation journey effectively.

Evolving needs, evolving challenges

Consumer demands have shifted significantly, with a growing preference for convenience and personalised experiences. A survey by Oracle Hospitality and Skift revealed that eight in 10 travellers prefer hotels offering self-service technology, highlighting the expectation for businesses to leverage technology to meet customer needs.

One such business that has successfully leveraged Tcube is PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering. The company has been establishing digitalisation initiatives since 2010. With Tcube, they managed to maximise their potential with 10 to 15% of its 127 software supported by STB.

The company’s General Manager, Kung Teong Wah, shared insights into their transformative journey: "Tcube helps us by looking at the cutting-edge startup technologies the hotel can adopt. It allows us to conduct proof of concept (POC) hospitality solutions together with STB, for us to improve guest experience, improve productivity, and adopt tech.”

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering also benefitted from the Data Analytics Shift (DASH) programme under Tcube, which aims to equip industry partners with enhanced data capabilities. Through DASH, businesses develop skills in data analytics and gain access to multiple data sources, including their own hotel data and visitor profile statistics from the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan).

In DASH 2.0, the programme's second iteration, Tcube partnered with companies offering third-party data sets like Near, providing geolocation data, and ForwardKeys, providing flight booking data. As a result, PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering was able to leverage 3.5 million data points from Tcube to gain deeper insights, enabling it to anticipate demand and tailor its offerings accordingly to maximise revenue. “Through working with Tcube and our hospitality division, we are focused on people, process, and technology. We even have a roadmap for our technological journey,” said Kung.

Another way STB supported PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering’s digital transformation journey has been through funding, partnerships, and education.

Under the Business Improvement Funds, an exclusive grant offered to support technological innovation and business model redesign in the tourism sector, the company managed to offset around 30% to 50% of its digitalisation costs. With support from STB, tourism and hospitality businesses can also have access to training grants under the Training Industry Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT), growing the capabilities of PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering’s employees.

“STB came in as an accelerator to support us in this transformation, where they accelerated skills through SkillsFuture and accelerated workforce performances through Workforce Singapore (WSG),” said Kung.

Creating an ecosystem of support

The standout benefit Tcube presents is that it allows businesses to join an ecosystem that not only helps and supports tourism and hospitality businesses but also encourages promising startups or scaleups to be innovative through the Singapore Tourism Accelerator, a highly selective and equity-free programme.

The programme offers a distinctive opportunity for tourism companies to adopt new and innovative solutions that may otherwise be challenging to source and implement independently. With a focus on curation and customisation tailored specifically for tourism, the Singapore Tourism Accelerator facilitates close collaboration between STB, tourism partners, and businesses, ensuring that the solutions piloted are highly relevant and effectively meet the sector's unique needs.

As is the case with PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, through strategic partnerships with STB, they have embraced cutting-edge solutions such as MAPXUS, enriching guest experiences with mobile indoor mapping technology.

Reflecting on their transformation journey, Kung emphasised the importance of personalised high-touch hospitality with high-tech solutions. As businesses embrace agility and innovation, the tourism industry undergoes a profound shift, demanding a readiness to adapt and evolve.

“We shouldn’t be using the excuse of avoiding technology simply because we are in the hospitality industry – where personal touch and physical work are key,” he stressed. “We can use technology to help employees free up time to deliver higher service quality to guests, enhancing guests' experiences at the end of the day.”

With a resourceful and structured approach, Tcube illustrates the potential for the future of tourism and guest experiences, highlighting that digital transformation is not daunting when supported by a dependable partner.

Ready to transform your business? Tcube can empower your digital journey and position your business at the forefront of Singapore's tourism industry transformation. Discover more here.