Singapore Tourism Board
Feature | STB

A Brand Beyond Borders

The Singapore Tourism Board makes passion possible by opening a world of opportunities for their staff.
STB

Wcontributing to four percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), cementing our status as a vibrant tourism destination goes beyond putting us on the map. Besides ensuring that we are well placed to attract the best capital, business, and talent, a thriving tourism sector also provides a plethora of quality leisure options to improve Singaporeans’ living environment.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) plays an essential role in championing and promoting our multi-faceted appeal as a playground for tourists and talents, forging win-win partnerships with industry leaders, and encouraging local engagement to fulfil the mission of shaping a dynamic tourism landscape for Singapore.

Leading the charge for STB is Assistant Director for the Business Innovation department, Joyce Lim. The 31-yearold embodies STB’s Passion Made Possible brand, having served the organisation for eight years overseeing the development of capabilities and competencies that enable Singapore tourism enterprises to innovate and remain competitive. We speak to the STB Full-Term Overseas Scholar on how the scholarship has opened doors for her.

Joyce Lim Hui Ting

Joyce Lim Hui Ting 
STB Full-Term Overseas Scholarship
Assistant Director, Business Innovation

Applied Business Management
– Imperial College London
Masters of Science with a Specialisation in Policy Economics – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

What made you interested to apply for the STB Full-Term Overseas Scholarship?

Joyce: I was enticed by the tourism industry, which seemed like a fun and multi-faceted sector. As the key government body championing tourism in Singapore, there is a direct link between what STB does and the impact it has on tourists, as well as the lifestyle experiences my friends and family enjoy, and this was something I wanted to be a part of. Secondly, STB is a global organisation with 21 regional offices located around the world, and I was excited at the potential opportunities of the exposure a career at STB offers.

How does the scholarship help to open doors in terms of career opportunities?

Joyce: Scholars get the opportunity to go on an internship with a business unit in STB while studying, and this gives you early exposure to the work that STB does and ability to get to know people in the organisation. This familiarity could be comforting when returning to the organisation after your studies and starting your career. As a returning scholar, you would also be part of STB’s Management Associate Programme, where you would be rotated to three business units, and this gives an introduction to the wide variety of work that STB does.

“As a returning scholar, you would also be part of STB’s Management Associate Programme, where you would be rotated to three business units.” Joyce

Share with us an experience when your roles and responsibilities at STB made an impact and showed its value.

Joyce: In 2017, my team and I had the opportunity to conceptualise and develop the Hotel Innovation Challenge. It was an innovation programme designed to bridge the gap between the hotel industry and technology solution providers in order to crowdsource for new solutions to problems faced by the hotels. We conducted interviews, focus group discussions, and surveys to better understand the pain points faced by the hotel industry, and then translated these into Challenge Statements to call out to the tech community for solutions. STB subsequently facilitated the matchmaking between the industry and solution providers, and co-funded shortlisted proposals.

At the end of the process, 17 new solutions were developed for the hotel industry, ranging from software like chatbots, to hardware like autonomous vehicles transporting linen, solving some of the industry’s most pressing problems. For many of the solution providers, this was their first foray into the tourism industry, and this programme opened up a whole new market and an array of business opportunities for them.

Having worked at STB for eight years, what keeps you going? How would you describe your STB experience?

Joyce: The one word I’d use to describe my STB experience is “dynamic”. In my eight years here, I’ve rotated to three different teams, each serving very different functions. I have done long term infrastructure planning work, marketing, and am currently in an industry development role. Each one presents a fresh set of challenges and opens my eyes to a different aspect of the industry. The learning opportunities are endless. The tourism industry and work that STB does are so varied and there is still so much more that I have yet to explore – this is what keeps me going.