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‘An Entrepot for Tourism’: from developmental tourism to gateway travel in Singapore, 1937–2019

ABSTRACT This article narrates Singaporean tourism development vis-à-vis conventional hotel-based and expensive public relations campaign models of tourism development championed by Western multi-lateral and private institutions in the postcolonial period. Using documents from the National Archives of Singapore, this article contends that Singapore opted for an infrastructure-led, aviation-based tourism development model, which culminated in the creation of an airport – Changi – which was as much a destination as a transit point. In achieving this approach to travel as tourism, the People’s Action Party highlighted the global advantages of an attractive airport and traveller amenities that made it an ideal global transit point in Southeast Asia.