Marketing Partnership Programme - Inbound Travel Agents

1. Objective

The Marketing Partnership Programme (MPP) is part of STB’s COVID-19 Recovery Plan. 

Open to inbound travel agents with at least 50% of their revenue from inbound traffic, the Programme aims to support inbound travel agents in their international marketing initiatives, maintain their international presence, and drive tourists’ demand during recovery.  

In view of the immediate challenge, the programme has dedicated part of the fund to support domestic marketing.

2. Qualifying Costs and Support Level

       a. Eligible Funding Quantum: $40,000 per Inbound Travel Agent 

       b. Funding supports 70% of qualified third party marketing costs.

       c. Funding for domestic marketing is capped at 30% of the Eligible Funding Quantum.

*Qualifying costs must be incurred within the Campaign Qualifying Period (Between the date of the signed STB's Letter of Award and 31 December 2022) and paid for at the time of audit.

3. Non-Qualifying Costs 

i. Creative/Media/PR Agency-on-Retainer (AOR) fees.

ii. Manpower costs such as engagement of temporary and contract staff. 

iii. Product and price subsidies or discounts. 

iv. STB-supported familiarisation trips and tradeshows/roadshows.

v. Marketing costs that are already receiving other grants from STB/other government agencies. 

vi. Domestic marketing costs (from 1 April 2022 onwards).

4. Deliverables

i. Deliverables will be tied to the approved marketing plans in the application. 

ii. Supporting fund will be pro-rated for partially fulfilled plans.

5. Reporting

To help us to assess the effectiveness of MPP and to effect future refinement, awarded companies are required to submit the following indicators on a monthly basis, until 31 December 2022:

i. Marketing Campaign KPIs

ii. Number of leads generated

iii. Number of customer bookings 

iv. Sales Revenue from inbound tourists (S$)

6. Disbursement of Funds 

Disbursement will be done in up to three stages to relieve cash flow pressure.

   i.  First disbursement: mid-way of the campaign period.

   ii. Second disbursement: submissions received 1 April 2022 - 30 June 2022 

   ii. Final disbursement: after the campaign.

Invoices need to be audited by a third party auditor before submission to STB. 

7. Key Dates 

Awarded quantum, deliverables, reporting and disbursement milestones will be detailed in a Letter of Award (LOA) upon approval.

8. Additional Funding Booster: Collaborate for Success

STB would like to encourage industry players to collaborate across sectors, pull your resources together and think creatively on how to sharpen our competitive edge and increase our value proposition.

Additional funding booster will be awarded for such cross-sector collaborations, to be assessed based on the creativity of the collaboration and the impact of the collaboration to tourism (inbound).

For example, hotels, attractions, MICE venues in the same precinct may want to come together to develop an integrated marketing plan and create interesting content that tells the story of the entire precinct. 

Your plan may creatively include other partners such as malls, travel agents, tour guides, etc. to beef up your value proposition.

9. Contact Information 

If you have any queries, please contact MPP@stb.gov.sg

For feedback and suggestions, you may email the quality service manager at STB_qsm@stb.gov.sg or leave your message here.