Hey there Jezebelle!
It’s been a long time since we've met! How have you been? I heard that you are
taking a tourism-related course in the US, and I was so happy because I am now taking
Leisure and Resort Management, which is a course that is similar to yours! Recently
you told me that you’re visiting Singapore soon, and I am really excited
because I can finally meet you after such a long time! You mentioned that you
wanted to visit some popular Singapore attractions, and have given me some
choices from TripAdvisor. After considering, I have picked the S.E.A Aquarium
for you because it’s one of the newest attractions in Singapore, and it’s much
more interesting than the other choices.
The S.E.A
Aquarium target audience is classified by age and visitor personality and
lifestyle. By age, it targets students at the age of 4 - 17 because inside the
S.E.A Aquarium, there are areas for students to learn about the different
marine creatures. By visitor personality
and lifestyle, it targets locals and tourists who are lovers of the beautiful
marine creatures. Other target audience may also be families with children.
Some
characteristics of the students at the age of 4-17 is that only students from
age 4 – 12 would be very interested in the learning of the fish. As for
students at the age of 13 – 17, it will be harder to attract them as they would
have other interest and thus will care less about visiting places such as the
S.E.A Aquarium. As for the lovers of marine creatures, needless to say, they
would be willing to pay any amount of money to enjoy looking and admiring at
the mystical creatures of the sea.
You might be
thinking, what are the things in the Aquarium that will motivate you to go.
Well, here are some motivators! Firstly, there is a wide range of fish in the
Aquarium, ranging from the commonly seen fish and dolphins, to those fish that
have never been seen before! Having 10 zones and 49 different habitats, imagine
how many different types of marine creatures will there be! The S.E.A Aquarium
also holds 2 Guinness World Records: world’s largest aquarium and world’s
largest acrylic viewing panel!
Secondly, the
price of the ticket is quite reasonable, at $29 for adults and $20 for children
at the age of 4 – 12 and senior citizens
at the age of 60 and above. Think about it, you have to pay only $29 to be able
to see over 800 species and more than 100,000 marine animals, it is definitely
worth it! It is also very accessible. You can take either the Sentosa monorail
from vivo city and alight at waterfront station at a price of $3.50, or you walk
there and pay $1.
Inside the
Aquarium, a soothing background music is played while you are walking around
the Aquarium, thus providing a relaxing ambience. There are also seats almost
everywhere for you to take a break from walking and exploring the Aquarium. Food
stands are also located there so that visitors can grab a light snack and
continue their walk.
There is also
a restaurant called the Ocean Restaurant located near the large viewing panel. However,
this isn’t any other normal fine-dining restaurant. It is opened and run by celebrity
chef Cat Cora, the first and only female Iron Chef America! Imagine dining
while seeing those beautiful marine animals swimming here and there. I bet it
is going to be an unforgettable memory!
Lastly, the
most important motivating factor that attracts visitors is the various fish and
aquariums that are inside the S.E.A Aquarium. Even though there is the
Underwater World which is providing almost the same products and services, but
I can guarantee you that the variety and service in the Aquarium is definitely
much more and better than the Underwater World!
Here are some
of the unique nature of the S.E.A Aquarium as a service provider! In the
Aquarium, the employees who are providing the various service are a part of the
experience you will be getting. Employee’s behavior and attitude plays a big
part in a successful attraction. If the attraction has employees who have bad
service attitudes, visitors will not be pleased with the attraction and may not
visit the attraction ever again. They may spread words of the bad service to
their friends and relatives, thus S.E.A Aquarium will lose more potential
visitors. Thus, to overcome this problem, S.E.A Aquarium must train their
employees well so that they can serve the customers better. By having satisfied
customers, chances of them coming back again would be higher, and they would
also spread words, thus increasing S.E.A Aquarium’s revenue.
The tickets
sold in S.E.A Aquarium are perishable, meaning to say, tickets today cannot be
sold for tomorrow. This posed a challenge for S.E.A Aquarium because during
weekdays, most of the locals are working, therefore losing a huge number of
potential visitors. Therefore, to counter this problem, S.E.A Aquarium
implemented the discount for credit card holders hoping to attract more
visitors on both weekdays and weekends. However, it is only for a period of
time. There are also bundle packages which includes tickets to both Universal Studios
Singapore and the S.E.A Aquarium. This way, visitors can visit both
attractions.
When you visit
the Aquarium, there is nothing inside that you can take home. You can’t expect
to bring home a fish from the tanks right? All you can bring home is the
experience, the education, and lastly, the fun you will enjoy inside! Therefore,
to resolve this problem, the Aquarium implemented the interactive corners for
the visitors to be able to learn more about the marine creatures, for example
the Discovery Touch Pool at the area of Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea where
you will be able to touch and feel the sea stars and the sea urchins. S.E.A
Aquarium also placed a souvenir shop at the exit, so that every visitors will
not miss it and can visit the shop to buy some souvenirs home to commemorate
their visit to the S.E.A Aquarium.
Nearing the
exit of the Aquarium, there will be one area called the Conservation Corner,
where you will be taught the marine creatures we need to avoid due to certain
reasons.
The ambience
inside the Aquarium also play a big role because in places such as S.E.A
Aquarium, visitors want to enjoy and admire the marine animals with a calm and
relaxed mood. Visitors will not enjoy their visit if they are under stress or
tension, therefore, the ambience inside the Aquarium must be relaxing. The
Aquarium solved this problem by playing soothing background music inside the
Aquarium.
One reason why
the S.E.A Aquarium is highly ranked in the TripAdvisor is because of the large
aquarium panel at the Open Ocean area. Standing at 8.3 meters high and 36
meters wide, it is the world’s largest aquarium viewing panel! It is impossible
to capture the whole view with one sight! Inside the large aquarium panel,
there are many different kinds of beautiful marine creatures, from small fish
to big manta ray. Visitors are able to sit down and take a break from walking at
the Open Ocean while enjoying the view of the big panel as there are platforms
for visitors to sit down and enjoy the view.
Secondly, it
was able to meet the needs of the visitors. Whenever visitors visit any places,
they will set a benchmark for that particular place. As for Aquarium, the
visitor would expect to be able to see a wide range of marine creatures. Since
they will be walking the aquarium for a few hours, they will be definitely feel
hungry at some point of time. Therefore, they set up 2 snack stands and a restaurant inside the Aquarium.
The attraction
also met the needs of handicapped visitors. Inside the Aquarium, the pavement
is all slope, which makes it possible for handicapped people to visit the
attraction even though they are wheelchair-bounded. I personally met some
wheelchair-bounded visitors during my visit there which shows that it is
possible for handicapped people to visit the S.E.A Aquarium.
S.E.A Aquarium
also offered various promotions. For example, credit card holders are given 15%
discount for a period of time. There are also packages for family, and the
package includes 2 adult tickets to Universal Studios Singapore and S.E.A
Aquarium, and one free child ticket to booth attraction.
Even though
there is the Underwater World in Sentosa which is also providing the same
service and product, the S.E.A Aquarium will be attracting more visitors
because it is much bigger than the Underwater World. Even the entrance ticket
to Underwater World is cheaper than S.E.A Aquarium, the difference between the
two prices is not much, and thus visitors may be willing to top up a few
dollars to be able to visit a larger attraction.
You may be
wondering what impact S.E.A Aquarium has on Singapore. One of the impact S.E.A
Aquarium has on Singapore is that it creates jobs for the locals and the
foreigners. For major attractions to run well, a right number of employees with
the right qualities must be hired. The Aquarium provides various job
opportunities as it is divided to various areas, such as divers, veterinarians,
aquarists, ushers, and aquarium guides.
Other impact the Aquarium has on
Singapore is that it helps to increase tourism receipts. Since it is a new
attraction and located in Sentosa, it will definitely attract more. Even though
there is the Underwater World in Sentosa which targets the same audience,
visitors will more likely visit the S.E.A Aquarium because of the wide variety
of marine creatures and the world largest viewing panel. In addition, the price
for Underwater World may be cheaper, but the difference between the prices of
the entrance ticket is not much, therefore visitors will visit the S.E.A
Aquarium rather than the Underwater World.
Other impact S.E.A
Aquarium has on Singapore is the environmental impact. I’m sure you have heard
the incident of the tragedy of a dolphins that were supposed to be transported
to Singapore. There were actually 27 dolphins that were coming to Singapore.
However, 2 of them died while at the holding area in Langkawi, Malaysia, while
another one died when it was on its way to Singapore from the Philippines. The
loss of the dolphins has caused rage amongst animal activists. They flooded
S.E.A Aquarium’s official Facebook page and official website with angry
comments and asking the S.E.A Aquarium to release the rest of the 24 dolphins.
Therefore, the S.E.A Aquarium is forced to take care of the dolphins as well as
the other marine animals to prevent another incident like from happening.
To summarise everything, S.E.A Aquarium will be a good choice for you to visit, and i am very sure you will not regret going! I'm looking forward to the day you will come Singapore, maybe you can bring me along with you and i can be guide!
More photos from the S.E.A Aquarium below for you to enjoy!
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| Entrance of the Aquarium! |
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| SO CUTE |
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| Upside down jellyfish! |
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| LOBSTERRRRRR |
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| So colourful |
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| SHARK!!! |
