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Industry experts believe the $9 billion expansion plans by Marina Bay Sands (MBS) and Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) would create renewed visitor interest in Singapore as well as more jobs for locals, reported Channel NewsAsia.
The additional investment will see RWS expanding Universal Studios Singapore with the inclusion of new attractions – Minion Park and Super Nintendo World, while MBS will add a new hotel tower and entertainment area.
Michael Chiam, senior lecturer in tourism at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, noted that these new attractions will provide tourists a reason to return to the city-state, especially those who are short of time.
“We cannot ignore the fact that there will always be development in our backyard – other countries can have mega-size theme parks, for example,” he said.
“But we can work something to our advantage. We are a small country, tourists can come here and see these attractions within a short period of time. We actually have a role to play for those who are time-hungry. The array of attractions here covers all interests as well.”
Aside from this, the expansion is also forecasted to generate up to 5,000 new jobs, with locals expected to take-up two-thirds of it.
However, Maybank Kim Eng senior economist Chua Hak Bin thinks the number of new jobs is pretty large and could be a problem.
“Some of these jobs could be filled by those looking for a temporary job, such as students, but are these the jobs that Singaporeans want to end up working in during the long term?”
“You need to get locals to get foreigners.”
And with the Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) – which lays out the maximum ratio of foreign workers to the total workforce a company could hire – recently reduced, some economists said that filling out the vacancies could prove to be a challenge.
In his Budget 2019 speech, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced that the DRC for the services sectors would be reduced in two steps – from 40 percent to 38 percent on 1 January 2020, and to 35 percent on 1 January 2021.
Romesh Navaratnarajah, Senior Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this or other stories, email romesh@propertyguru.com.sg
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