‘Where is Singapore?’: Trump-Kim summit a PR coup for tiny city-state

SINGAPORE: As images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strolling by revellers at a rooftop bar the night before an unprecedented meeting with President Donald Trump circulated around social media sites, US citizens started asking ‘Where is Singapore?’.

‘Singapore’, the tiny Southeast Asian city- state that played host to nuclear talks earlier this week, was the most searched term on Internet search engine Google in the United States on Monday with over 2 million hits.

Related searches during those 24 hours included ‘ Where is Singapore’, ‘Singapore summit’ and ‘time in Singapore’.

Singapore said it spent S$ 20 million ( US$ 15 million) on the summit, a figure that drew the ire of some citizens. However, marketing experts say the coverage generated from the event could be worth more than 10 times that.

“It places Singapore on the map for international audiences,” said Oliver Chong, executive director, communications and marketing capability at Singapore Tourism Board.

Tourism contributes around 4 percent to Singapore’s GDP per annum. Visitor arrivals hit a record 17.4 million last year boosted by China, its top market, and India.

“The Trump-Kim Summit has arguably been the single most important event that brought Singapore to the attention of the most people around the world,” said Jason Tan of media advertising agency Zenith Singapore. — Reuters