Feasts on the streets as Food Festival comes to town

Quick. Is there another bigger word for paradise? If so, that’s what Singapore will be in July when it lays on the biggest feast to hit its streets.
 
Yes, the Singapore Food Festival returns bigger than ever. From 1 – 31 July, this mad-about-food city will become even crazier, obsessed even, when it comes alive with unique dining events, mammoth food carnivals and plenty of food & beverage promotions, not to mention discounts island-wide.

This year’s theme, “A Celebration of Singaporean Cuisine”, came to life at the Opening Celebrations on Orchard Road as chefs whipped up a culinary storm for invited guests as well as Guest-of-Honour Minister of State for Trade & Industry Mr S Iswaran at the ‘Singapore TIGER Chilli Crab Festival’, the lip-smacking curtain raiser to the month-long Festival co-organised by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Reed Exhibitions.

“Dining is one of the key strategies that will bolster Singapore’s tourism vision of welcoming 17 million visitors and recording S$30 billion in tourism receipts by the year 2015,” said Ms Joycelyn Ng, Deputy Director, Leisure Marketing and Events Management, STB.

“We estimate that on the average, F&B (Food & Beverage) accounts for approximately 14 per cent of the expenditure of tourists holidaying in Singapore, which worked out to a significant S$880 million in 2004. Evidently, the tourism industry represents big business for Singapore’s favourite national pastime.”

The annual Singapore Food Festival distinguishes and positions Singapore as a dining destination with a distinctive food culture and colourful food heritage.

“Singapore is already recognised internationally as a food paradise and its diverse dining alternatives are key draws for both leisure and business visitors. Enhancing such a standing is the Singapore Food Festival, which highlights our Uniquely Singapore destination personality through home-grown culinary delights,” said Ms Ng.

The Singapore Food Festival attracts thousands to its packed calendar of free-admission core and fringe events each year, of which an average of 10 to 15 per cent are visitors.
 
Highlights include the ‘Singapore TIGER Chilli Crab Festival’ at the Opening Celebrations along Orchard Road, as well as opportunities to test new F&B ideas or products, for example the ‘CraBlog’ series specially created by BreadTalk which features brand-new bread flavours like Chilli Crab and Curry Crab.

The Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (NETS), also the presenter for the Singapore Food Festival 2006, will also bring back its Merchant Promotion Programme which features a host of food and beverage discounts and promotions at restaurants island-wide.

For more detailed information on the Singapore Food Festival 2006, please log on to: www.singaporefoodfestival.com