STB Chief Executive gets up close and personal with visitors

Every general needs to get out there to see what challenges his troops are facing on the frontline and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) chief is no exception.

Mr Lim Neo Chian, Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive of the STB, recently took time off to help out at the Singapore Visitors Centres (SVCs) at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and Orchard Road. This is part of the STB's SMILE (Serve with Memorable and Insightful Learning Experience) programme. Launched in January this year, the SMILE programme aims to provide STB officers a glimpse into the operations at the visitors centre and more importantly, allow them to better understand our visitors' needs through personal encounters.

Said Mr Lim: "For our work to be relevant, we felt that it is important to create opportunities for our staff to come into direct contact with tourists so that we have a better sense of our visitors' needs.

"The Chief Executive is not exempted from this ruling."

Spending a day at the SVCs opened his eyes to many things, the key of which was "a sense of responsibility to provide the right answers and be helpful".

"It is not an 'aga-aga' (guesswork) thing. We cannot afford to provide inaccurate answers. You got to know what you are saying. Our customer service officers at the SVCs are really quite good. They know what they are saying."

The most common questions asked revolved around "where to find this or that, how to get to this or that place and what to do", said Mr Lim.

What stumped him was a question on where to buy a particular type of pants. "I had no clue. One of the service officers saved me."

The most interesting question asked was a request to visit a wet market "where Singaporeans go and do their marketing each day".

"I suppose the group of tourist wanted to have a taste of authentic Singapore, to see the everyday life of Singaporeans. So I suggested that they visit one of our HDB (Housing Development Board) heartlands."

In all, he was pleased with the feedback he received from tourists. "Many said we have a wonderful country they enjoy visiting and that they will be back."

What can be improved further, he felt, were to have more updated event guides and to have them in languages other than English.

On what he thinks it takes to be a good customer service officer, Mr Lim cited that they should be "friendly, helpful and knowledgeable".

"The visitors centres have an important role to play. Tourists do need help when they come to Singapore. It is important to continue to improve the quality of our services," said Mr Lim.

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