Winners of STB's Online Promotion to Fly on US
9 March 2009, Singapore - The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) today announced the first and second winners of its Fly on US online promotion - Mrs Nirupama Bhat from India and Mr Shi Jianghao from Hong Kong respectively.
Mrs Bhat, a 44-year-old deputy manager at the State Bank of India lives in Mumbai and got to know about Fly on US through an advertisement in the Times of India. Mrs Bhat and her family last visited Singapore in 2000 but were excited to see first hand how Singapore had changed. "At first I thought someone was fooling me, but after some time when it sank in that I had won free tickets to Singapore I was very excited. Great things do happen to ordinary people like us! I've never won a contest before and winning these free tickets makes me think that luck is on my side.”
The same sentiment is echoed from the other side of the continent. Mr Shi Jianghao, a 28-year-old Commerce manager in Hong Kong is the 2nd winner of the Fly on US online initiative. He has visited Singapore many times before and like all other visitors, loves the local food and scenic view in Singapore. “I feel very happy and surprised when I knew I have won a pair of free tickets to Singapore. I plan to redeem the tickets this summer and spend my summer holiday with my wife in Singapore.”
Since its launch just two weeks ago, more than 60,000 invitations have already been sent out globally through the www.visitsingapore.com portal and Facebook application.
“We are very happy that Fly on US has provided Mrs Bhat and Mr Shi an opportunity to visit Singapore again. As we all know, the world is in the midst of a very trying period and so we hope Fly on US, a fun and interactive online initiative, will inject some good cheer in an otherwise challenging time,” said Mr Chew Tiong Heng, Director of Destination Marketing at the STB who elaborated that the third winner has been identified and is being notified of the win. “With the simultaneous launch of this campaign internationally, we hope to invite even more people to come Fly on US. We congratulate Mrs Bhat and Mr Shi on their win and look forward to welcoming them in Singapore.”
The campaign runs until 31 May 2009 and offers many more chances for overseas participants to win up to S$500,000 worth of return tickets to Singapore. All they need to do is to log onto www.visitsingapore.com/flyonus to invite their friends and family onboard the virtual Uniquely Singapore flight. Every qualified 2,009th name will automatically win a pair of return air tickets to Singapore. The campaign also features a customised application on Facebook – one of the world’s most popular social networking portals with a broad global reach. The official Facebook Contest page is hosted on http://apps.facebook.com/flyonus.
Nominating participants also stand to walk away with monthly cash prizes of S$10,000 in March, April and May 2009 to be spent in Singapore. Results will be announced on www.visitsingapore.com/flyonus . Winners of air tickets will be notified within two weeks after qualification. Cash winners will be notified within two weeks after the draw dates which will fall on the seventh or eighth day of the following month respectively. The first draw will be conducted on 7 or 8 April 2009.