33 Allanbrooke Road, Sentosa, Singapore 099981 Tel: (65) 6275 0388 Fax: (65) 6275 0161 www.sentosa.com.sg contents Message From Board Management 1 Vision 2 The Chairman 6 Members 8 Team Everything’s Shining Stopping Sentosa 10 Newer Under 26 Through 32 At Nothing For 40 Leisure The Sun Our People Best-In-Class Group Experience Vision Sentosa, the leader in shaping leisure and lifestyle experiences, plays an integral role in making Singapore a global city. We will achieve this by: • Leveraging on our unique capabilities in leisure management • Attracting, cultivating and engaging our people to deliver the Sentosa Experience • Delivering best-in-class leisure experiences for all 1 Sentosa Annual Report 2007/08 Message From The Chairman New vision, new horizons Not only did island guest arrivals hit a record of 6.1 million, Singapore is poised to become a powerful tourism hub with the Group also outperformed its previous year’s financial $30 billion in tourism receipts and 17 million visitor arrivals results with $2.4 billion in gross revenue this year. Our leisure by 2015. Total international arrivals in 2007 crossed the 10 business continued to perform well and gross revenue from million mark with 10.3 million visitors. On the back of such admissions, food and beverage, retail and property rentals hit stellar tourism industry performance, Sentosa took a bold step $108 million, registering a 26% increase. forward by embracing a refreshed and bolder vision during the last financial year. Looking ahead, the global economy is Cumulative investment commitment by the Group and the entering a new phase with some uncertainties and it is thus private sector grew from $11 billion in the last fiscal year to even more important that we strengthen our resolve and $14.7 billion in FY0708. This comprised $3.5 billion of fresh garner our resources to meet the challenges that will come. private investments from Sentosa Cove’s land sales proceeds and the additional investment committed by Resorts World at With the realisation of key developments in the 2002 Sentosa (RWS). masterplan, a new chapter is unfolding for Sentosa. The refreshed vision expresses Sentosa’s strategic intent Buoyed by a strong property market, gross land sales to leverage on our unique capabilities to become the at Sentosa Cove reached $2.2 billion, surpassing the leader in shaping leisure and lifestyle experiences. We also previous year’s record by 47%. With the sale of our final four seek to make a major contribution towards Singapore’s institutional land parcels (The Beachfront Collection, The transformation into one of the more attractive cities in the Green Collection, Pearl Island and The Pinnacle Collection) world to live, work and play. and ongoing retail sales of bungalow parcels to individuals, over 99.6% of the total land area at Sentosa Cove has been In conceiving the refreshed vision, a top-down and bottom- sold. As one of the most coveted residential communities in up approach was adopted to ensure commitment and buy-in the world and the only oceanfront residence in Singapore, from all levels of staff. This holistic approach saw Board Sentosa Cove is fast becoming a showcase of luxury real members setting broad strategic thrusts, and management estate with outstanding architectural designs. Today, over and senior executives defining the core elements of the 1,000 residents are already living there. vision at a two-day Management Summit. A “LET’S CLAP!” programme, reflecting the passionate culture we live up to on Sentosa, was also rolled out to engage and help staff Revenue and Surplus $2.4 billion embrace the refreshed vision. The refreshed statement therefore reflects the corporation’s aspiration as well as the Group Revenue staff’s commitment to make the vision a reality. $1.4 Net Surplus billion Setting off from a vantage point $2.0 billion Looking back, it has been 36 years since Sentosa began its journey. From a secluded village and coastal fortress, the FY0708 island has now transformed into a thriving leisure destination, $1.2 billion known near and far. The journey was not an easy one but we managed to ride the changes and turn challenges that we encountered into FY0607 opportunities. $1.0 billion It was this fervour and resolve that have steered Sentosa through yet another blockbuster year. From record guest arrivals to revenue highs; from strong residential land sales to $520 million top accolades and awards, Financial Year 2007/2008 (FY0708) was a year to celebrate. FY0506 2 Our refreshed vision expresses Sentosa’s strategic intent to leverage on our unique capabilities to become the leader in shaping leisure and lifestyle experiences. 3 Sentosa Annual Report 2007/08 For leisure seekers, we continued to delight with compelling In the area of service, our staff continued to do us proud. attractions and signature events. Sentosa won top trade More than a hundred of them were recognised at SPRING awards at the TWC Travel Industry Awards 2007 and the Singapore’s Excellent Service Award 2007, and one of our inaugural Asian Attractions Awards by the International beach patrol staff, Julian Ong, attained the highest accolade Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA). as the Attractions Industry’s Superstar. Julian also recently Songs of the Sea, a mega water, fire and laser extravaganza won the 2008 Customer Service Professional of the Year in on Siloso Beach, garnered the prestigious Thea Award for the regional Customer Relationship Excellence (CRE) Awards Outstanding Achievement for Event Spectacular and the organised by the Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium ASEANTA Award for Best ASEAN New Tourist Attraction. based in Hong Kong. More than a million guests have watched its nightly sell-out performances since its opening in March 2007. Attendance Towards greater heights at the Sentosa Flowers also hit a new high with more than The stage is set for greater change and achievements on 330,000 guests. the island. On the international front, we captured the attention of We have been working closely with Resorts World at Sentosa business leaders and golf enthusiasts across the globe (RWS) to ensure that the construction of the highly anticipated when the island once again hosted the Forbes Global CEO family integrated resort is on track for opening in 2010. In Conference, as well as the Barclays Singapore Open, which anticipation of a bullish tourism outlook for Singapore and Asia featured luminaries such as Angel Cabrera, Vijay Singh and in the coming years, RWS announced in November last year Ernie Els. For the second successive season, Sentosa Golf that they will be adding two new attractions, making it a total Club was chosen as the Host Venue of the Year 2007 by the of 24 rides and attractions to be offered at Universal Studios players of the Asian Tour for its contribution to the success of Singapore®. Construction works will peak in FY0809 at the the 2007 Barclays Singapore Open. In addition, the Golf Club mega resort. Some inconvenience is to be expected during this was named Asian Golf Monthly’s Best Championship Course period of intensive construction but we will minimise as much in Asia. as practicable the disruption to our guests and residents. Come December 2008, Sentosa will create more waves when At the same time, we continue to broaden the island’s leisure the world’s premier Volvo Ocean Race 2009, also billed as and lifestyle offerings. The latest resort hotel to open its the F1 in yachting races, makes its debut in Asian waters at doors was the Amara Sanctuary Resort, a 121-room hotel set Sentosa Cove. amidst 3.5 hectares of greenery on a hillside above Sentosa’s popular Palawan Beach. Built on the site of former British Management and staff embracing the refreshed vision Luxury amidst exclusivity at Sentosa Cove. in a fun way by coming up with a Sentosa cheer! 4 military barracks from the 1920s, the resort clinched the enjoy, nine secondary schools were pioneer participants in our 2007 Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Architectural inaugural tree-planting event. Heritage Awards for its carefully restored colonial architecture and chic contemporary design concepts. Other developments Our accomplishments in FY0708 would not have been completed during FY0708 included a brand new pavilion possible without our team of dedicated staff, management hall for corporate functions on the reconstructed Serapong and Board members. Special thanks to Philip Ng (CEO, Far Course and four wine and dine restaurants – 35 Artillery, East Organization), Low Teo Ping (Senior Adviser, Citi Global a new fine dining concept, as well as Suburbia, Braise and Wealth Management), Jennie Chua (Chairman, Sentosa Cove) Silk Road of the Sea which were converted from our former and Goh Chye Boon (Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Trade & monorail stations. Industry) who joined me on the Executive Committee to lend guidance to the organisation as we continued our search for Looking beyond the horizon, we refreshed our masterplan to the Chief Executive Officer. I would also like to extend my boost Sentosa’s position as the leading leisure destination appreciation to outgoing Board members – Eric Khoo, Manoj in Asia in the face of competition from resort destinations Murjani and Darrell Metzger – for their valuable support and emerging in the region. A new wave of interactive, participative contributions. and spectator-based attractions such as an indoor skydiving simulator, jet boat rides, beachfront surf and wave facility and The coming years will be even busier and more exciting. We zipline attraction will be progressively introduced. have been successful in recruiting our Chief Executive Officer since then and we warmly welcome Mike Barclay to Sentosa. Accessibility around the island remains a key priority in With his experience and strong intellect, he will be able to anticipation of higher guest traffic once RWS is completed.