Singapore – SRV Voucher Redemption Stalls: 2.2 Million Singaporeans Yet to Utilize Their Vouchers
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing said on Monday (April 5) that about three-quarters of, or 2.2 million, adult Singaporeans had not redeemed their SRV.
As of March 28, 2021, over 760,000 adult Singaporeans have used their SRV at least once. Collectively, more than S$108 million in vouchers and additional expenditure has been spent under the scheme, said Mr Chan. Despite the government’s efforts in making the SRV voucher redemption easier, the numbers have not significantly increased.
The SRV initiative was introduced in September 2020, where every Singaporean aged 18 and above last year received S$100 worth of vouchers to be used on staycations, attraction tickets, or tours.
Redemption of the vouches started in December last year. They will expire on June 30, 2021.
However, the SRV voucher redemption process has sparked concern among some users, who find the task of perusing eligible offerings across five different booking platforms challenging.Â
STB has appointed five authorised booking partners for the scheme, namely, Changi Travel Services Pte Ltd, GlobalTix Pte Ltd, Klook Travel Technology Pte Ltd with UOB Travel Planners Pte Ltd (as consortium members), Traveloka Services Pte Ltd and Trip.com Travel Singapore Pte Ltd.
According to a channelnewsasia.com report on Wednesday (April 7), some experienced other technical difficulties during their online bookings. The entire process also proved to be intimidating for those who are less tech-savvy, such as the elderly.
STB chief executive Keith Tan announced in response to the possibility of simplifying the redemption process that “there are no plans to change the fundamental mechanics of the scheme.”
“What we can do and been doing already is to make it easier for those who are not so digitally-savvy to access the schemes, whether through physical touchpoints at the CCs (community centres) or the physical platforms that have been established by our booking partners,” said Mr Tan to CNA.
“And those are still available.”
He noted, however, that there has been a decline in the number of people visiting the physical touchpoints over the last few weeks.
“And I hope that’s also partly a reflection of the fact that once you’ve tried it at least once, you actually find that it’s not difficult at all,” added Mr Tan.
Efforts will be increased in the upcoming months to encourage Singaporeans to redeem their vouchers.
“To encourage more usage, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), together with the onboarded merchants and authorised booking partners, will intensify efforts in the next few months,” said Mr Chan.
This includes sharing products and promotions across attractions, tours, and hotels, through STB and the authorised booking partner channels.
Mr Chan highlighted that there is currently no change to the redemption deadline of June 30, 2021.
“We will continue to monitor the redemption rate over the remaining months before considering if any extension of the redemption deadline is warranted.” /TISG
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