Singapore Tourism Board appoints new chief executive

THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will have a new chief executive from Jun 1, 2023, announced the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Wednesday (May 3). Melissa Ow, who is executive vice-president for customer experience, marketing and investment facilitation group at the Economic Development Board (EDB), will be taking over the helm from current chief executive Keith Tan.

Ow was deputy chief executive at STB before she was seconded to EDB in June 2020, where she helped work on the global promotion of Singapore’s business brand and EDB’s marketing and communications in key markets such as Europe, the United States, China and Japan.

While serving as deputy chief executive at STB, Ow headed the experience development group and the corporate group and was responsible for Singapore’s line-up of tourism products including events, dining, retail, sports, entertainment and precinct development.

Tan, who turns 49 in August, will be heading for his next posting in the public service, though MTI declined to reveal the specific government body. As chief executive of STB, a post which he took on in October 2018, Tan had to steer a tourism sector that was decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

MTI said that Tan rallied hotels, cruise lines and Mice (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) venues to serve as dedicated facilities for recovery and care, while tourist guides and displaced workers were deployed to support national efforts.

“Tan also guided efforts to safely reopen the tourism sector from late-2021, leading to the resumption of large-scale business and leisure events and the full reopening of tourism facilities and infrastructure in 2022,” read the media statement.

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The ministry added that Tan’s efforts in promoting Singapore as a vibrant destination for business and leisure travellers, as well as championing sustainability and wellness as key strategies for Singapore tourism, have helped the city-state to be the first country to be certified in 2023 as a sustainable destination based on criteria laid out by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.