Surrounded by Nature

Hi my friend!

I’m really happy to know that you are visiting Singapore soon! I can’t wait to see you and I have seen the list of recommended attractions you sent me. I personally like being in the nature and so I would definitely recommend you to visit Singapore Botanic Gardens.

It has a man-made site designed to attract visitors and I would classify the garden as a primary attraction as visitors spent most of their time there.

Singapore Botanic Gardens has been developed along a 3-Core Concept. The three Cores are Tanglin which is the heritage core retaining the old favourites and charms of the historic Gardens; Central which is the tourist belt of the Gardens; Bukit Timah which is the educational and recreational zone. Each Core offers extraordinary attractions.

I would classify the visitor market under effective market as visitors of the attraction are usually tourists, family, people who are interested in flowers and like being with the nature. They usually visit the attraction to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and also to spend some quality time together with their love ones.

The opening hours for the garden are 5am to 12am daily and the admission is FREE! Can you believe it!

It is very accessible as there are bus services located at different entrance gates and the new Botanic Gardens MRT station has make it even convenient for the visitors.

 



 

Oh did I mention to you that the garden is 74 hectares big? But not to worry, you will not get lost in the big garden as there are directory signages everywhere in the garden. You can also take the pamphlet of the garden and there are map inside too.

 

 

You must be thinking why Singapore Botanic Gardens? Firstly, you can escape from the busy and crowded city. It is also an extremely good place to spend some quality time with your family and friends and have picnic there. To add on, it is definitely a fantastic place to take photographs.

Secondly, it is a magnificent garden, showcasing many different types of plants species. One of the highlights of the garden is the Ginger Garden, which features over 550 species, varieties and horticultural cultivars of gingers and its allies.

 

 

 

Isn’t it really pretty? :)

Another highlight of the garden is the Eco Garden which is a discovery garden of economically important plants through human history. The Eco-lake is home to the black swans too.

 



 

 

 

The little girl is really amazed with the black swan, don’t you think so? :)

 

The last highlight of the garden is the Palm Valley. At the end of the valley, families and music enthusiasts regularly gather for orchestral performances at the Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage. You can enjoy the performances while sitting at the big field and having a picnic with your family and friends.

 

 

 

The core product of the garden is that you will be able to experience the quietness and peace away from the city. You are also able to gain more knowledge by learning more about the different plants species. It will help to boost family or friends relationships as well.

The tangible product of the garden is the big green patch of grass and you can just bring along your mat and some food and you can chill and enjoy the breeze and scenery that you cannot experience them anywhere else. You can bring your own games to play there too.

 

The augmented product is the souvenirs shops and car park you can find there. There are also clear descriptions about the origins and details for each flower species to help facilitate your learning.
 

You can buy some souvenirs and share what you learned about the plants you see back with your friends and family as well!

In addition, the garden is handicapped friendly too. They have handicapped washrooms and slopes to make it easier for them. There are pavilions and shelters as well in case of the bad weather. Also, it’s fine if you do not wish to bring your own food because there are restaurants, food court and refreshment kiosk available in the garden itself.

 

 

 

As I’ve mentioned above, the garden is really big and after some time of walking and feeling all tired, there will be benches along the pavement to let you rest your tired feet.

They are very thoughtful aren’t they? :)

Not to forget, there are water cooler and vending machines available to quench your thirst after walking.

Moving on, I will now explain the nature of service products in the context of Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Firstly, the staff involved in producing and delivering the product is part of the product itself as if the staffs at the souvenir shops or visitor centre are rude, unfriendly and untidy, visitors will leave a bad impression of the garden and reflect badly on the attraction as a whole.

Secondly, the customers themselves are involved in the production process and this poses a challenge as if they have a bad impression about the garden, they will naturally think poorly about the attraction.

Thirdly, the service product is not standardized as if it rains, the visitors will not be able to enjoy the scenery and have to stay indoors due to safety reasons. This will affect their mood as they are not able to enjoy themselves as much as they want to. Even if the rain stops, it is still not recommended to stay outdoors as it will be dangerous and inconvenient for the visitors because everywhere in the garden will still be wet and slippery.

Next, the product is perishable, cannot be stored. In this case, as the admission to the Singapore Botanic Gardens is free, there will not be any challenges posed for the attraction.   

Also, there is no tangible product to carry home and this is when reviews and pictures of the Singapore Botanic Garden are important in order to make visitors want to visit it.
Last but not least, the surroundings of the service delivery process are a feature of the service because imagine entering a garden with a lot of pests and litters, the visitors will not go there ever again due to the bad past experience they have. A garden should be litter-free and have a clean environment in order to appear to be attractive to the visitors.

As you know, Singapore Botanic Garden is ranked 1^st cultural attraction on TripAdvisor and I think it has indeed met the needs of the visitors which are to know more about the different and colourful plants/flowers species, to spend some quality time with their friends and family and to escape from the stressful life in the city, as mentioned above.

Some pictures I took on my last trip to the Singapore Botanic Gardens,

 

Look at these! The flowers are really gorgeous right? :)It’s an eye-opener for me and I surely love this place so much!

 

I am lucky enough to have spotted a squirrel too!

 

The garden is unique as they offer beautiful nature scenery and peace that helps you to relax which other recommended attractions do not offer. Being in the nature helps you to improve your health and wellbeing too!

Founded in 1859, I’m sure Singapore Botanic Gardens is not new to many. Singapore Botanic Gardens has been featured in various websites such as the Channel News Asia and even in the US travel news. To add on, the Singapore Botanic Gardens has been awarded the inaugural International Garden Tourism - Garden of the Year Award by the Canadian Garden Tourism Council for providing its visitors with a world-class garden experience on the 14^th April 2012.

Furthermore, as seen in Channel News Asia, "The Singapore Botanic Gardens was chosen for submission as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it fulfills the criteria of having outstanding universal value, and the gardens have made important contributions to the region and the world."

This further proves that visiting Singapore Botanic Gardens will not be a wrong choice.

The negative economic impact Singapore Botanic Gardens have for Singapore is that the admission ticket is free and this means that they do not earn any revenue through the admission ticket. They are reliant on sponsorships from the government and the public especially when the garden is expensive to maintain due to the fertilizers and the watering of the plants.

 

The positive environmental impact the garden have for Singapore is that the trees will increase the amount of oxygen and also by having more trees will filter the pollutant gases by trapping them within their leaves and barks. This will reduce the amount of “unhealthy” gases around us and will minimize the potential health risk.

As there are many visitors who will go the garden for a picnic and some inconsiderate visitors will leave their leftover food and litters all around and therefore, this will cause a negative environmental impact. This is because it will attract pests and with the litters all over the garden, it will be very unhygienic and if it gets serious, it may lead to air pollution.

Singapore, being the country that has been awarded with the Garden of the Year Award will make us, the citizens of Singapore proud and will therefore treasure this one-of-a-kind garden across the world.

 

This is the place I really enjoyed going and I hope you will enjoy it just like I do! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

TreePeople. (2013). Top 22 Benefits of Trees. Retrieved from: http://www.treepeople.org/top-22-benefits-trees

National Parks Board, Singapore. (2009). Singapore Botanic Gardens clinches inaugural International Garden Tourism - Garden of the Year Award. Retrieved from: http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/index.php?option=com_news&task=view&id=292&Itemid=50#annexb

Singapore Botanic Gardens. (2007). Retrieved from: http://www.sbg.org.sg

FNE Travel. (n.d.) Singapore Botanic Gardens. Retrieved from: http://www.fnetravel.com/travel_info/english/singapore-info/singapore-botanic-garden.html

Chia, A. (2013, April 8). S'pore Botanic Gardens has "outstanding universal value", says Lawrence Wong. Channel News Asia. Retrieved from: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/s-pore-botanic-gardens-has-outstanding-u/631506.html

Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attraction Management Lecture 1: Attraction Management in Perspective. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.

Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attraction Management Lecture 2: The Attractions Product. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.

Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attraction Management Lecture 3: Attractions Demand & Market Segmentation. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.

The Bub in the Belly. (2008). Our Sunday. Image retrieved from: http://bubble-belly.blogspot.sg/2011/10/our-sunday.html

Unknown. (n.d.) Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage. Image retrieved from: http://travel-tips.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/singapore-botanical-garden-shaw-foundation-symphony-stage-lake.htm