Licence fee waiver for hotels, travel agents, tourist guides extended through end-2021

LICENCE fees for hotels, travel agents, and tourist guides will continue to be waived through December 2021, after having earlier been waived till end-2020, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said at the ministry's Committee of Supply debate on Tuesday.

This is part of continued aid for the hard-hit tourism sector, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues. In 2020, over 7,000 tourism businesses were aided by the Jobs Support Scheme wage subsidy, which is being extended by six months for the sector.

Other moves include the Singapore Tourism Board's SingapoReimagine initiative to position the Republic as an attractive and safe destination, and the upcoming Tcube, a platform for testing new solutions for the tourism industry.

Tech talent was another focus of Mr Tan's speech. Replying to questions by Members of Parliament Jessica Tan and Foo Mee Har on plans to grow the local tech talent pipeline, Mr Tan said that over the next three years, local institutes of higher learning will add about 20,000 individuals to the local tech talent pool.

There will also be another 6,250 from Workforce Singapore's and the Infocomm Media Development Authority's place-and-train programmes in functions such as software engineering and cybersecurity.

But besides local talent, Singapore must "attract global talent to complement our local workforce and fill our skill shortages", he added.

One way to do this is the Tech.Pass scheme, under which high-achieving, top-tier global talent can enter Singapore as either a founder, employee, consultant or academic.

Replying to another question by Ms Foo, Mr Tan said Singapore has seen "keen interest" in the scheme since applications opened in mid-January. So far, 22 applications have been approved.