Hi May, here is a post specially dedicated to you. I would highly recommend you to visit Changi Chapel Museum.
First of all let me start off with the brief
history about World War II (WWII). On 15th February 1942, the British
commander in Singapore surrendered. Sixty-two thousand Allied soldiers
were taken prisoner and more than half eventually died as prisoners of war. Few
decades have pass and Singapore decided to build a museum to dedicate it
to all the Prisoners Of War (POWs) who suffered during the tough times in World
War II (WWII).
Changi Chapel museum it's a replica of a
chapel formerly used by the prisoners that were built during WWII. It's located
just outside the museum and opens for visit. This museum also includes the
stories, which are told with personal artifacts and news coverage by the POWs.
Although Changi Chapel and Museum is located outside the central of Singapore,
where most attractions are, many visitors still made the trip down here.
Singapore Tourism Board constructed the
replica chapel adjacent to Changi Prison in 1988. According to the Australia
Broadcasting Operation, due to the overwhelming crowd and interest shown by
general public and ex-prisoners of war with their family, it was relocated to
the present location in 2001. The original Warren murals, however, are
still at the army logistics-training centre in the Changi camp. This attraction
is thus classified as a Man-made attraction for tourism.
1) How will you classify the attraction according to the visitor market?
Ex-POW family members Tourist or Local
Changi Chapel Visitor markets can be the
Ex-POWs family members, Free and Independent Tourist or Locals. These visitors
are most likely dewks (family with double income) with children in their teens.
Parents can be the descendent of the Ex-POWs or POWs themselves. They might
want to come to remember the event again and educate their children more in the
WWII. The museum can be a
place for families to spend their time together to learn.
Demographic: Teens are children from the ages of 13 to 19
years old. Parents have the age range of 40-65 years old. They have middle to
upper range income. Teens are included because they are old enough to
understand and they would have the leisure time to learn about the national
history. As younger
generation would like to find out more about WWII because the stories they know
are only in textbook format. Thus, by visiting the museum, the artifacts and video will help teens to enhance
their learning experience. Geographic: They come from different parts of the world, many of which were involve
in WWII, i.e. Australia, the state of New South Wales and United Kingdom
(Britain). Behavioral: They can seek benefits from the museum to seek knowledge about the
history and as an important part of life lesson, because many people do not
know how blessed they really are in this generation. Psychographic: The family member's personality may be the
introverts, classify as psychocentric travellers, who prefer traditionally
popular locations such as, museum tours and low activity levels.
2) What are the motivating factors that will interest your friend to
visit the recommended attraction?
There are several motivating factors that
attracts visitors to Changi Chapel museum. These factors include, push
motivation such as; educational purposes, gaining knowledge for oneself to
fulfill self-actualization needs; feeling of nostalgia these serve as the core product of the museum. Followed by the tangible product where the attractions will provide brochures on sites, paintings, real artifacts, exhibits, chapel. These product are essential for providing the core product to the visitors. Whereas the augmented product determines how the service and product is delivered for example the atmosphere the videos that are provided in the museum, aural background music are present and the sense of touch we can touch some of the artifacts.
Undeniably, cost is one of the factor that
attract visitors as it is free of charge, youngsters can bring home knowledge
without paying anything if they do not have much disposable income. It is
value for money. Unlike other museum such as; Singapore Philatelic Museum
and Asian Civilizations Museum, which you have to pay entrance fees for
overseas visitors.
Lastly, Changi Chapel is the only museum that has a chapel enclosed in a museum you can not find this anywhere in Singapore with this Chapel it makes the museum stands out differently from others. People can hold events there and experience how life were like in the past they can also "understand" what their great grandparents been through. In short, reminiscing the past too.
3) Describe the unique nature of the attraction as a service product, in
the context of your selected attraction. What challenges does this pose for the
attraction?
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| Quilt |
In this case here, what the museum give is,
a form of service, knowledge, experience and the feeling of nostalgia. These
are all intangible as it cannot be tasted, felt, heard or smelled before we use
it. In short, there is no tangible product to carry home. As such, visitors
cannot experience the feeling of nostalgia unless they are able to see and feel
it. In this instance, the museum provides images
and details of the interior and exterior of the museum in their website to give
visitors a brief overview of what the museum is all about. This is to help countering intangibility before they decide to come and visit the museum.
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| This picture shows the original Changi Prison wall |
On the site, Changi Museum also has many
ways to counter the problem of intangibility as the museum has an aesthetic
Design and the feeling of “Changi” in the olden days. There is a section
that covers on life in Changi Prison during the WWII. This helps the visitors
to understand the restrained life in prison where 4 prisoners have to squeeze
into each cell of the Changi Gaol.
All these just by words alone are not able to
bring out the "experience". Therefore, by placing all these tangible products
that visitors can see and feel it will help to counter the problems.
There is also a replica chapel beside the
museum in the chapel there are letters, photographs and notes written by the
civilians and soldiers during the Japanese Occupation in Singapore. There are
also japanese cranes that are folded by descendants of Japanese soldiers. These
cranes signifies the prayer for peace. All these help the ex-POWs and
descendants tangibilize the intangible which is, memories.
The layout of the exhibitions are also organize in a way that tells
the beginning of the WWII all the way to how things ended. There are also
personal artifacts by the EX-POWs it helps to engage all the senses – audio,
touch & smell.
Over there they also have souvenirs shops for the visitors to buy back
gifts and this helps them to remember that they have been to Changi Chapel and
serve as a “memory” and to show their friends or
relatives that they have been there. At Changi Chapel it also have a mini
library with a series of POW reference book for visitor whom wish to read up
more. This helps them to manage knowledge as an intangible product.
Inseparability
Inseparability means that the Services cannot be separated from their
providers and the staff involved in producing a delivering the product are part
of the product itself. In short, museum cannot survive if there is no visitors
neither can it survive without a service provider these two are correlated.
When there is inseparability customers and service provider must be present for
the process to take place. When two person are together the customers will
begin to perceive the museum through the staff's attitude, appearance if all
these are not met to their expectations a problem occurs. The customers will
start to perceive the museum as a place not worth their visit and to worsen the
situation they spread the word of mouth to their friends and relatives. Thus
the museum's reputation will suffer.
In Changi Chapel, the moment a visitor enters the museum, a
service staff will be fast enough to smile,greet them and handle customers
queries. It serves as the responsiveness in the quality of service the
service provider provides. This is also known as the moments of truth in which customer
often develops a perception or attitude about the museum.
As customers are also part of the product, our experience can be
affected by other customers. Now, museum curator play its part that it only
allows a maximum 120 pax in the museum. This is to ensure that all visitors
have a meaningful experience while viewing the various aspects of the Museum.
In this case here, if there is overcrowding. The people in the museum will feel
that they are unable to appreciate the ambience of a site and a reduced
opportunity for visitors to see and do things that they wanted to do.
Variability
Variability means that the quality of service depends on who provides
them and when, where and how it is provided. As there are fluctuating demand of
the visitors and sometimes there is lack of consistency in the service
provider. Incongruities can lead to unpleasant and unsatisfying encounters and
the consequence of losing a customer by not meeting their expectation. Just one
of this experience can sour a visitor's view about the museum. Sometimes this
services varies, for example when the visitors return to the museum may have a
different experience during the second time. This uncertainty and the
simultaneous nature of product and consumption make it a challenge for the
museum.
In order to counter these problem, the museum must hire the right person
to do the job or send the service provider to undergo training and have a standard
operating procedure for all the staffs.
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| Changi Murals |
Perishability
Perishability means that the product is perishable and cannot be stored for
later use. Although Changi Chapel Museum entrance fee is free for
everyone, they can still earn revenue from renting audio guide and gift shop.
If some visitors did not visit Changi Chapel that day the potential of earning
revenue is lost because services cannot be stored for later used, revenue lost
from not selling those product is gone forever. One of the challenge is to
compensate for perishability by managing demand and capacity.
However, Changi Musuem has ways to overcome this problem they include
their museum in a package tours that bring visitor to various places such as
Selarang Barracks, Johore Battery in Singapore, these places are related to the
WWII. Through this, the museum earn a chance of earning revenue through
the package tours and there are potential where visitors will start buying
souvenirs and this help to earn extra revenue for the museum.
Above all, it can also help to enhance the visitor overall experience.
Not only package tours, there are also rental of space in Changi Museum if
visitors wants to host their wedding or church services there this can also
help the museum to earn revenue as renting of space requires visitors to pay an
amount of money there.
4) Share
with your friends why do you think the attraction has been highly ranked on
trip advisor. Eg. How has it met the needs of visitors? Has it been successful
in promoting itself?
Changi Chapel has been highly ranked on trip advisor was mainly because
of its rich history and moving stories that touches many people's life that they left
in tears and it was an unforgettable experience for them. This serves as
a reminder of the spirit of the human race, many also said that
"Changi Chapel was very informative and very thought provoking
especially about the sufferings of the people of Singapore during the Japanese
occupation and displays are well presented".
However there are also negative comments left behind by the visitors,
commenting that they expected much more of a “sense of place and an evocation
of the Changi experience” as the “old Changi Jail has been torn down and the
memorial had moved a long time ago” as they cannot “connect to this attraction
physically” this is due to fast development in singapore, the original memorial
were torn down but Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has created a replica of the
chapel to allow visitors re-experience the WWII period.
I personally feel that the museum has meet the visitors needs in all
aspect, for example it has an Interactive exhibition that touches visitor’s
heart while reading the true story of victim during WWII the exhibition layout
are also neatly arrange in sequence, pictures and video are shown to the visitors about what happened in the past.
According to Singapore Tourism Board (2), the museum was design by STB
and was rank 6th in Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA), Architectural Design Awards
2001. Travel Weekly East (TWE) also awarded it as Innovation in Environment/Heritage
Work for Changi Chapel and Museum. This might be the reason that this museum is
highly ranked on trip advisor is due to their unique and innovative design. They promote their museum through the Singapore Tourism Board and Your Singapore they also package their museum into the Changi Museum War Trail, in this way once visitors look for other WWI site, Changi Chapel will somehow be included.
There Is also a “mini” library in the museum
called “The Changi University”, a research area that houses a collection of
rare books and literature that represent the life during the war years. Where
most museum does not have the reference corner. Above all this, there is also a
café right next to the Museum visitors do not have to worry to find food to
satisfy their basic physiological needs. Changi Chapel museum satisfy their
visitors from their basic needs to their need to self-actualization this is
what make them stands out from their competitors.
5) Comment on the impact the attraction has
on Singapore
Economic Impact
Major attractions draw significant amount of
foreign currencies into Singapore as according to Singapore Tourism Board, the
tourism sector performance report (9) shows that: sight seeing and
entertainment has 26 percent of market shares and rank the highest among
components that are competing for tourism receipt. It indicates that the Changi
Museum are part of the market shares that earns the tourism receipt, this can
help to improve the economy of Singapore. Thus, it serves as an income for
government through taxes paid by employees and company.
Visitor's expenditure has a multiplier effect
within the Singapore’s economy as a spending of one tourist will lead to extra
income and so on.
Lastly, there is also the spin-off effect,
once there is increasing numbers of visitors in the museum the visitors will
spend on their transportation and their food this will impact the nearby
amenities. Thus, this adds to the inflow of foreign currency.
Social –Cultural Impact
The concerns for the attractions that are
purpose built are the impact of the attraction and its users on the local
community. How the attractions reflect needs and desires of the local people
and how accessible they are to the local. If the attraction are accessible to
locals and are attractive to them this attraction will be seen as a positive
development that increases the range of leisure opportunities for locals. The
perceived benefit of the attractions such as, jobs and visitor expenditure are
enjoyed by the local people rather than outsiders because when tourist start
spending money the government will collect taxes and in return build schools,
hospital for the society. There is also an opportunity cost as such, instead of
building an attraction for tourist the government can build a school, hospital
community centre for the community.
Environmental Impact
Whenever there is a construction of an
attraction, it will have a harmful effect on the environment. Firstly, the
visitors themselves impose a negative impact on the natural environment as the
grass on the floor is eroded by tourist walkers and trees, grass are cut away
to make way for this Museum. Wildlife is also killed by accident while building
the museum. The environment will also suffer from air, noise and water
pollution. By building museums/attraction poses a great threat for the natural
environment
To sum up, World War II is
a textbook knowledge to younger generations like us. This is where you will not
regret visiting because coming here is where the history comes alive.
You can take Bus no.2 from Tanah
Merah MRT Station. Alight at bus stop right in front of Changi Museum. (Right
after Changi Women's Prison / Drug Rehabilitation Centre)
Reference
1)Changi Prison
Chapel in Singapore. Retrieved May 17,2013 from http://www-singapore.com/attractions/changi-prison-chapel-museum.htm
2) Singapore
Tourism Board Accolades 08 May (2009) Retrieved on May 18, 2013, from
https://app.stb.gov.sg/asp/abo/abo11.asp
3) The trip
advisor. Changi Chapel and Museum: Traveler Review. Retrieved on May 10, 2013.
From: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g294265-d324543-r149660259-Changi_Chapel_and_Museum-Singapore.html
4)Australian
Boardcasting Cooperation, The beginnings of Changi. Retrieved on May 15,2013.
From: http://www.abc.net.au/changi/history/default.htm
5) Tulloch. R
Museum of Hell – Changi Singapore. Posted on Feb 26 2010. Retrieved on May 13
2013. From: http://richardtullochwriter.com/2010/02/26/changi-museum-singapore/
6) Changi Chapel
and Museum Review. Last updated on 2011. Retrieved on May 15 2013. From: http://www.travelsingaporeyourself.com/changi-chapel-and-museum.html
7) History
Learning Site. The fall of Singapore. Retrieved on May 15 2013. From: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/fall_of_singapore.htm
8) The Changi
Museum. Retrieved on May 10 2013. From: http://www.changimuseum.sg/Home.aspx
9) Singapore
Tourism Board, Tourism Sector Performance Q1 2012. Retrieved on May 18, 2013
from: https://app.stb.gov.sg/Data/news/3/c7f1734f2e7b3ea403e447de4a566ed2/tourism%20performance%20quarterly%20report%20-%20q1%202012.pdf
10) Kotler, p.
et al. (2010). Marketing for Hopitality and Tourism
11) Temasek Polytechnic (2013). Attractions Management
Lecture 1: Attraction Management in Perspective. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic
Leisure and Resort Management Division
12) Temasek Polytechnic (2013). Attractions Management
Lecture 2: Attraction As Service Products. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic
Leisure and Resort Management Division
13) Temasek Polytechnic (2013). Attractions Management
Lecture 3: Attraction Demand and Market Segmentation. Singapore: Temasek
Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division
14) Temasek Polytechnic (2012). Introduction to Hospitality
and Tourism Lecture 3: Foundations of Travel Behaviour. Singapore: Temasek
Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division
15) Weaver. D (2010). Tourism Management Fourth Edition. John Wiley & Sons Australia,Ltd
16) Swarbrooke, J. (2002). The development and management of
visitor attractions. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
