Attractiveness of Universal Studio Singapore (USS) among International Visitors

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URBAN TOURISM
A research on the attractiveness of Universal Studio Singapore (USS) among
international visitors
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Table of Contents
List of Charts..........................................................................................................................3
List of tables...........................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................4
1.1 The nature of urban tourism.........................................................................................4
1.2 Singapore – a business hub and leisure island.............................................................5
2. Literature review................................................................................................................6
2.1 The theories of tourist motivation................................................................................6
2.2 The theories of adventure travel and tourism...............................................................7
2.3 Theories of consumption..............................................................................................8
2.4 Tourist typologies.........................................................................................................8
2.5 Tourist enclaves and bubbles.....................................................................................10
2.6 Management, business and marketing concepts........................................................11
2.7 Theme Park Theories.................................................................................................12
3. Methodology....................................................................................................................13
3.1 The major limitations of the research.........................................................................13
3.2 Data Reliability..........................................................................................................14
4. Findings and discussion...................................................................................................14
5. Recommendations............................................................................................................18

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6. Conclusion........................................................................................................................19
References............................................................................................................................21
List of Charts
Chart 1: A bar graph showing the main features/activities which attracted international tourists to
USS................................................................................................................................................17
Chart 2: A bar graph showing the percentage satisfaction level of the tourists who visited USS
due to different features/activities.................................................................................................17
List of tables
Table 1: A table showing the main features/activities which attracted the international tourists to
USS................................................................................................................................................16

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1. Introduction
1.1 The nature of urban tourism
Urban tourism is a general term used to describe the different tourist activities which
happen in the city. Therefore, we can say that in urban tourist, the city is usually the main
destination and the major place of interests to the tourists (Colantonio, 2017). Urban tourism
started many years ago and has kept on growing and becoming more complex in different
regions of the world. Most of the big towns have different attractive structures which could be
museums, cultural centers, entertainment facilities, mega shopping malls, some funny and
modern structures, among many other structures which attract many people from different
regions (Wise, 2016, pp.30-34). Most people tour different towns with different objectives and
agendas and some of the most common objectives and agendas which make people to tour
different towns include shopping purposes where they tour some major malls in cities, to learn
more about their cultures in the museums, to learn more about their past and their traditions
through some artwork stored in museums and other heritage centers found in cities, for
entertainment purposes where they go to some swimming pools and other recreation centers
found in towns, for sporting purposes where they go to various stadia located in cities which host
different games and sports, among many other objectives and agendas. Generally, we can say
that many cities are very popular tourist destinations since they host many facilities and have
many other activities which attract different local tourists and other international tourists who
come from different regions of the world.

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1.2 Singapore – a business hub and leisure island
Singapore is one of the Asian countries which have some attractive cities which attract
very many local and international tourists due to the cultural and the modern structures and other
attractive activities which happen in these cities (Navarro, García, and Macías, 2018, pp.703-
706). Singapore has many malls where people go to do their shopping, some museums and
cultural heritage centers where people go to learn about their cultures and traditions, and also to
be entertained, and many other modern and cultural structures which serve different functions.
The cultural and the modern structures and the many activities which happen in Singapore’s
cities have attracted many local and international tourists to the cities, and this has helped to
promote the businesses and other important activities which happen in these cities. These
businesses and the many attractive structures or features found in the cities have helped to make
Singapore a popular business hub and a leisure island to many people who come from and
outside of Singapore (Lee, Phau, Hughes, Li, and Quintal, 2016, pp.981-998). Singapore
Universal Studio Singapore (USS) is one of the best and the most popular attractions in
Singapore and attracts many thousands of both local and international tourists. Universal Studio
Singapore is an internationally recognized theme park located in the Resorts World Sentosa
which is found in Sentosa Island, in Singapore. USS is owned by the Genting Group under the
license of NBC Universal Media which is an American multinational media conglomerate of
Comcast. USS theme park is the first and the only South East Asia’s Universal Studio which
features 24 rides, shows, and different attractions in seven different themed zones (Hashim,
2015). These unique features make USS a very popular destination for many local and
international tourists. In this paper of urban tourism, we shall consider the attractiveness of

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Universal Studio Singapore (USS) especially to the international tourists, and this will help to
enhance our understanding of urban tourism in a great way. We shall research and discuss some
of the major features which make USS a very popular destination to many international tourists,
and this research will help us to come up with some findings and some recommendations which
can be implemented to enhance the performance of USS even more even if USS is already doing
well as far as international tourism is concerned.
2. Literature review
In this section, we shall discuss the major concepts and the main relevant theories which
address urban tourism. Extensive research has been done, and many theories developed to
address urban tourism which is very common in many countries and keep on varying due to
various issues and circumstances.
2.1 The theories of tourist motivation
There are different theories which have been developed by different scholars in their
efforts to discuss urban tourism and the entire tourism in details. Most of these theories agree
that we have some push and some pull factors which can be seen as the motivational factors
which attract the tourists to their desired destinations. Most of the push factors are the intrinsic
motivators like the desire for rest, and relaxation, social interaction, adventure, prestige, health
and fitness, among many other motivators which make the tourists tour different destinations (Xu
and Chan, 2016, pp.107-110). Pull factors, on the other hand, are the factors which emerge due
to the beauty and the attractiveness of the desired destinations (Whyte, 2017, pp.557-568). This