Hey Ruth! Hope you are doing well so far! Really excited for your arrival in Singapore, thought you wouldn't have much time to spend here. So i did a research on the places you asked to chose from and ultimately recommend them to you. If you haven't guess so by my previous post, I would like to recommend the Singapore Flyer for your visit! There are many great reasons why one should visit the site which I would carry on to explain why while answering the questions you have for me.
Here's how it would look like from inside the capsule...
To answer your first question
There are many ways and variables to classify an attraction some which includes
- Ownership
- Primary & Secondary Attractions
- Catchment Area
- Location
- Size
- Target Markets
- Benefits sought
However, I wouldn't use all of the above I would just like to bring to attention just two of it which is namely the primary and secondary attractions and the benefits sought.
The Primary attraction: Which is the Singapore Flyer itself. A primary attraction is the main reason for trips and where visitors spend most of their time at.
Secondary attraction: Are attractions visited on the way to and from the primary attraction. This includes the journey of dreams, Singapore Food trail, XD theatre, Flight simulation and some others.
By having both primary and secondary attractions, the sit truly maximizes their profits because their consumers spend their money not just on the Flyer itself but also the other attractions within the site.
The next classification would be Benefits Sought.
The benefit brought by taking Singapore Flyer would definitely be the status brought forth by taking on the world's largest and tallest ferris wheel. Another one would be the value for money, comparing the prices from my previous post to the experience i would receive. Definitely worth the penny.
The motivating factors
There
are many motivating factor for one to visit this attraction, first and
foremost, because of the time constraint, this site is most ideal because it
includes the ride experience itself, coupled along with shops like Singapore
Food trail, a Singapore’s 1960s themed food street, unique gourmets of
Singapore like chilli crab, butter crab, satay, cereal prawn, drunken prawn and
many other can be found there, to add on that the food are prepared by local
chefs that has a name of themselves, surely making you leave wanting for more.Not just that, you can relax at the fish spa, chill out at the sports bar and even shop for yourself or even your love ones at the site.
It is truly a package that is truly most suitable for someone who faces time constraint. Speaking of time constraint, the Singapore Flyer is perfect because it only takes 30 minutes for one whole rotation giving you extra time to go other attractions within the site itself or just enjoy yourself at the scenery, apart from that, within that short time you’ll also be able to view some of the most iconic buildings and landmark of Singapore from on top of the flyer, from the Marina Bay to the Singapore River, Raffles Place, Merlion Park, Empress Place and the Padang. The flight offers beautiful sight either at day time or night time, both expressing the beauty of this Lion City from two perspectives.
A view from the top...
Another great reason to come to the Singapore flyer is because it stands at 165 meters tall, 30 meters taller than the world renowned London’s Eye, it will definitely be a priceless experience to take a flight on the World’s Largest Observatory Wheel that costs 240 million to construct.
To add on, the journey of dream, Singapore flyer’s newest attraction, a multimedia showcase which projects Singapore’s dream on an internal projection, this is so unique because this Asia’s first such video technology available, definitely something worth coming for. You can also, while enjoying the flight enjoy Singapore’s most famous cocktail named the Singapore Sling, an unique and the nation’s most well-known cocktail, just imagine being 165 meters above ground, enjoying the perfect view of Singapore and enjoying Singapore’s best cocktail, splendid pair.
Another reason why you should come to Singapore flyer is because of the XD Theatre, a state of art 10-seat attraction, a 6D motion stimulator, there is little explanation needed for how awesome this attraction is, the very fact that it is 6D, it is quite self-explanatory.
The last reason I would like to mention is the flight stimulator available at the Singapore Flyer, a stimulator used by actual pilots for training, with this you can fly off on a journey to more than 20,000 airports worldwide with actual procedures like how airline operators run it. Not to mention, it is Singapore’s very first!
There are too many reasons why one should visit the Singapore flyer, the above mentioned are just a few of reasons why I feel that is definitely worth a go and surely there are more reasons one can find to visit this attraction, all I can say is that that the Singapore flyer is one attraction that anyone, whether a tourist or local does not want to miss out on.
Unique features and It's challenges.
Although it is unique because of its iconic name as the World’s Largest Observatory wheel, this poses a problem as it is extremely difficult and expensive to maintain. As the safety of the customer is at stake, and in order to deliver a safe and enriching experience for every guest, the company must thus take lots of painstaking safety plans and procedures to make sure everything runs smoothly. This requires much time and manpower which is a large cost to the company's resources. This challenge is seen by the several breakdowns since its opening with one of its worst case having 200 over people stuck on the capsule for 7 hours and casing a full out investigation of its malfunction to be carried out forcing the flyer to close down until the safety assessment is done.
The unique features of this wheel also include in-capsule dinning and other F&B services within the capsule, this heightens the overall experience for a guest that comes and actually buys the package. This however also poses a problem as the butler in the capsule has to make sure everything goes well and if something does not go right, there is little or no help available because of their distance up in the sky. Any spillage might cause the whole capsule to be unavailable for the next batch of customers to use due to the time used to cleaning up and re-setting up the themed capsule for the following customers which might cause unhappiness to stir due to the long wait, which might in turn be followed by bad customer’s reviews and complains causing the company to lose potential customers as well. To prevent such problems from happening, the company would have to recruit and train staff to handle such situation to make sure everything goes smoothly which could be quite a toll on the company’s resources as well.
Since every one rotation is 30 minutes and a capsule can only take up to 28 people, it is a perishable product, if the capsule to left empty and not filled to its maximum capacity the company loses the profit for that half an hour, which is something Singapore flyer faces every day, making sure that capsule is filled whenever it takes off takes lots of marketing, time and money to ensure that.
The augmented product of the Flyer also plays a big part in delivering the core product of the Flyer which is the experience in itself, imagine taking a 30 minutes flight on the flyer, yes enjoying the beautiful city scape of Singapore but the capsule smells bad, the air-con is spoilt, the capsule is too cramped up and etc, this thus affects the experience for the consumers and poses as a challenge for Singapore Flyer to resolve and ensure.
The Singapore Flyer is so unique because it is the world’s tallest Ferris wheel since the time of its conception, 30 m Taller than the London’s eye, 5m taller than the star of Nanchang, and the problem here is that there are many projects to build even taller Ferris wheel, have been set and some already under construction, some of which includes the New York Wheel (190.5 metres) which is set to be start construction at 2014 and start operating by 2015, The High Roller (167.6 metres) , to be built on the Las Vegas Strip, Nevada, expected to completed by late 2013. When these wheels are constructed, the Singapore flyer will lose their title and might because of that lose some consumers. The challenge is here that, Singapore flyer must still be able to retains its consumers and at the same attracting more people to come in to use the attraction with other Unique selling points.
The last notable challenge is the Singapore Flyer is a man-made attraction specifically for visitors, for such attraction the product life cycle is relatively steep at the start (profit of S$8888 on the first 3 nights) because of the media coverage that generates mass response. But because of the short life product cycle, the attraction must constantly be improving and coming up with new attractions and hype to maintain profit and to cover costs.
Why I think it's highly ranked on tripadvisor.com?
After reading many reviews from tripadvisor.com I am convinced that Singapore flyer deserves a top spot on the site. First of all, up to date the Singapore flyer has a total of 2617 reviews on the site and 82.1% rated the attraction as Very Good or Excellent. The overwhelming positive commentary reviews had some similar comments and such includes the magnificent 360 panoramic view of Singapore and does not stop there that but the view also extends to our neighboring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia and truly a breath taking experience for all who took the 30 minutes spin on the wheel. Not just the experience itself but also the supporting services behind it which helps cater a more enriching experience on the flyer itself for example, being able to have a romantic dinner with your loved one, coupled with good food, great company and a mind-blowing view would definitely be something every couple would like to experience together. This alone easily could make Singapore flyer one of the top ranking attractions on tripadvisor.com but however there other contributing factors as well.
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Another factor that contributed to its success would be that, Singapore flyer is definitely an overachiever in the area known as accessibility, the Singapore flyer is so strategically destined at a place so accessible that you can arrive at this attraction located at 30 Raffles Avenue which is just 5 minutes car ride from the central business district area, alternatively it just a fuss free 5-10 minute walk from the nearest train station called promenade station, some other ways include taking a taxi or a local bus service. Another interesting way to get to the flyer would be getting on a water taxi from the Singapore River to travel to the flyer. Singapore flyer also wanting to cater to the special needs section, has ramps, lifts and handicapped toilets, making it easy for those in wheelchairs to get in, out and around the Flyer. Wheelchair parking lots situated right beside the lift making it even more accessible for the handicap people.
Adding on, to further fulfil the need of its consumers and living up to the big name of Singapore being the nation of gourmet, Singapore flyer has also opened up spaces for restaurants to operate around the area to fulfil the physiological needs of the consumers with 13 F&B catering shops at the flyer itself, if not you could just dine in the flyer itself!
In terms of fulfilling the need of the consumers, Singapore flyer has also done well to cater something to everyone, the ladies could go for a retail therapy at the retail outlets, the men can go for the fly stimulator or chill out at the sports bar, if you came with kids or your family you all can go for a relaxing Kenko Reflexology and Fish Spa, take a duck and hippo tour or experience the XD Theatre, a motion stimulator. If you are young, filled with energy and ready to rock and roll, there is also a place for you to go! Shake entertainment which is a club for the party animals to spend their night. The above are just few of the many activities that are available at the flyer and there is certainly something for everyone to participate in, no wonder the Singapore flyer has such a high ranking on tripadvisor.com.
The Singapore Flyer has done well in promoting itself with the making of many events and promotions to influence the influx of consumers, with the newest press release being the one related to Mother’s day on the 17th April, named “Work out in the Sky” a yoga/Pilates/fitness programme up in the sky as a part of the mind body spirit festival 2013, attracting attention from the media to cover about the event. This however was just one of the many events held at the Flyer. The Singapore flyer has also been rather successful in promoting itself appearing on Local news 49 times since even before the birth of the flyer, appearing on newspapers like the Straits time, the business times, the paper, Lianhe Zaobao, the New paper and several others. Not only local but the Singapore flyer also made it to international news coverage of a total of 11 times, some of these include the New York Times, CNN.com, Top travel and some others as well. This proves that the Singapore flyer did have much media attention, drawing much consumers to them because of such promotions happening.
Also, the attraction is better than its competitor because no other attraction allows you to enjoy the beauty of Singapore at 165 metres tall and even enjoy your meal through the whole flight, yes there are competition going on where the consumers would go but base on the unique nature of being to deliver such an unique experience is unparalleled, this makes the attraction a notch higher than all its competitors.
Impact on Singapore
The flyer has definitely made a huge impact on Singapore, drawing in many more tourists to come to Singapore just to ride on the world’s tallest observation wheel. This in turn boosts the economy of Singapore with the tourism receipts coming in from the curious tourists who come to take the ride however at the same time not forgetting the locals who yearn to catch the magnificent view of Singapore’s city scape. The construction of the Singapore also created significant number of jobs opportunities as well, the man power demand not only came from the need of ushers to usher the people into the Ferris wheel, but also personnel for ticketing, engineers for maintenance, various others as well but at the same time, the other newly opened up restaurants, shops, services and others, all of which contributed to job creation just because of the opening of the Singapore Flyer. Both the former and latter points definitely prove a positive economic impact on Singapore. However the downside of this rapid Economic growth could most probably that Singapore flyer contributed to the inflation rate in Singapore causing the cost of living here to be higher and overall prices to be heightened which is a big disadvantage to locals because they have to pay the same price as tourists because of the increased demand for local services and goods due to the increased number of tourists coming into Singapore.
Another positive impact of the construction of this huge wheel would probably be the political impact, being the world tallest Ferris Wheel it does create some sort of status and pride for the nation. The sole fact that Singapore flyer is the tallest observation wheel in the world gives Singapore a title not seen but felt by other countries in the a way gives off the image of Singapore being a prestige country and improves the country’s profile.
The last impact I would like to mention is sadly a negative one, because of the constant influx of Tourist, foreigners get to experience Singapore’s culture first hand and see if their experience is aligned with their impression or expectation of Singapore. Some however do leave the country with a envy wishing that their country was the same but some unfortunately leave Singapore with a bad socio-cultural impression of the her culture and people, this happens when bad behavioral patterns are shown by locals at the attraction for example, littering, usage of foul language, inappropriate behavior in public, noisy, pushy and many others. This gives the tourist a bad impression of the nation and causing them to leave with a negative image of Singapore which might lead them to writing negative reviews at sites like Tripadvisor.com which might in turn cause other potential tourist to shun away from our country making us lose the bill.
This is all I have gather and hopefully this recommendation would help in your choice making of where to go for your visit :)
Take care!
