Singapore government has introduced a new visa regime for Saudis by cutting the visa processing time from 14 days to five working days now, said Jason Ong, Area Director for Middle East and North Africa, Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Ong was speaking to Saudi Gazette after addressing a press conference here on Monday to announce the launch of Riyadh-Singapore flight, a new route that Singapore Airlines will introduce from Dec. 14. “We are relaxing our visa regime for Saudis. We will issue multiple entry visa to Singapore for all Saudis with a minimum period of one-year,” he said adding earlier Saudis could apply for visa only at Singapore embassy in Riyadh or its consulate Office in Jeddah. Among other measures taken to simplify the issuance of Singapore visa to Saudis a number of visa processing outlets have also been opened in the Kingdom, he said. Saudis can also apply for Singapore visa online. There is no need for personal interviews or fingerprinting, he added. Hilary Fernandes, Singapore Airlines' Sales Manager for Saudi Arabia, who was also present at the press conference, said the airline will introduce four weekly flights to Riyadh, via Dubai every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Ong said Singapore Airlines will operate Boeing 777-200 aircraft to Riyadh, the second city to which airline operates in Saudi Arabia. The airline will maintain its current service of three weekly flights to Jeddah via Abu Dhabi. Singapore Airlines took the decision to introduce Riyadh-Singapore, an entirely new route in Saudi Arabia because of the good tourism potential that the Saudi capital offers, Ong said. In 2007, a total of 10,600 Saudis visited Singapore, which was an increase of 10 percent compared with the year before, he said. Saudi tourists are also good spenders, more than average international tourists coming to Singapore from other parts of the world, he said. The Saudis stay around 4.6 days, whereas the international average is of 3.7 days, he said. Ong said the effect of financial crisis has started to appear as during the first four months of this year the tourism traffic to Singapore was not as high as last year. However, there was a 15 percent increase in the number of tourists coming to Singapore from countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia this year as compared with previous year, he said. He said a lot many promotions await Saudis who usually visit Singapore with their families. He said among the tourists attractions Singapore Zoo and Singapore Flyer are world's best. The restaurants in Singapore have announced free give-away for tourists including free entry and free meals to two children accompanying with two paying adults. The Saudi tourists can also enjoy a visit to Singapore Shopping District with free rides in the open top bus. “Singapore restaurants are offering a variety of halal food,” he said adding there are a number of restaurants that offer Arab and Turkish food besides local food. – SG __
