Shelters for Visitor During Foul Weather at Siloso Beach

Topic The topic of this report is ‘Shelters for Visitor during Foul Weather at Siloso Beach, Sentosa’. Background Subject Matter The main idea of this topic is to find out visitor’s satisfaction. Tourism is a people-based industry, the beach being a part of the industry. Beach, in particular, Siloso Beach, is a widely known tourism and recreation site. There is a lot of factors that affect visitors’ satisfaction, including the visitor themselves and fellow visitor. Although, it is undeniable that problems encountered and how the problems are handled is also a big determinant in visitors’ satisfaction.

Demography The targeted demography for this research is visitors that have visited Siloso Beach more than one time. To narrow down the targeted demography even more, adult visitors will be chosen.

The reason behind this targeted demography is that adults, compared to younger visitors, are more likely to know what to do when there’s foul weather. Adults will automatically look for shelters, where in the case of younger visitors or children, usually they would be confused and rely on the adult to evacuate and take them to sheltered place. Location The location for this research is Siloso Beach, Sentosa. Siloso Beach is one out of three beaches located at Sentosa Island. Siloso Beach itself is a popular tourist destination, with several activities and excitement offered. Majority of restaurant, activities and attraction is located in this beach. Siloso Beach provides activities such as Flying Trapeze, Cable Car Sky Network, Jet Pack, Banana Boats, Kayaks & Paddleboards, Bungee Jump and many more. Problem Statement The insufficient amount of shelters provided for the case of faulty weather such as heavy rain and wind. With the capacity of almost 1000 people, the current shelters at Siloso Beach could not properly keep that much number of people safe from at least, rain. This is certainly an issue, although not encountered every day, but could be serious when faced with highly foul weather. Lots of problem can arise from this simple, but often overlooked problem. Research Questions There are four main questions in this research that will help to maneuver the direction of this research:

1. What type of Foul Weather does Siloso Beach experience?
2. How can shelters improve visitors’ experience and safety?
3. Why are the shelters so important and why is it needed?
4. How often do visitors seek shelters during normal weather compared to during foul weather?

Topic Justification Singapore’s Weather Singapore is a country with tropical climate. Being a tropical country, Singapore only have two seasons: dry season and wet season. Each one of the season typically would last as long as six months. With that being said, in one year, there will be times where Singapore is really hot, and there will also be times where Singapore have unexpected heavy rain and wind, thus, considered as foul weather. Beach and Outdoor Beach is an outdoor landform alongside body of water, usually sea. Talking about Siloso Beach, a lot of activities there are very much affected by the weather. As mentioned in the previous point, Singapore’s two main seasons is dry and wet season. An outdoor recreation is unstable during the wet season, foul weather, heavy rain and wind is often unexpected. During these situation, is where shelters are important and urgently needed. Safety Reasons Foul weather such as rain, wind and heat could be a threat if not properly handled. Heavy rain is normally harmless, but rain combined with thunder is dangerous. It is dangerous for visitors to seek shelter under the trees when it is raining and there is thunderstorm because there is a possibility of them getting struck by lightning. Heavy wind in coastal area is also dangerous. Sometimes, depending on how heavy the wind is, things like jet-ski or kayak boats can flew across the beach, the worst scenario, trees collapses.

Compared to the other two, heat might be the least dangerous. Usually, Singapore’s temperature is somewhere between 25 to 28 degree Celsius, but on a certain time it could get as high as 31-33 degree Celsius. The highest temperature recorded in Singapore is between 35-36 degree Celsius. When people are exposed to high temperature for a long time, there is a chance of them getting heatstroke or even dehydration. Satisfaction Visitor satisfaction comes not just from great activities and beautiful beach, but also from small things like shelters. When the beach gets too hot for visitors, they will seek shelters to cover themselves from the heat. When there is a sudden rain, visitors will also seek shelters. If there is no shelter or not enough shelter, visitors will leave the place unsatisfied or disappointed and vice versa.

Repeated Visitation When visitors experienced a foul weather but they managed to stay safe from the weather, customer will place their trust to come back and visit the place again. The shelters are also needed so that visitors feel like they are actually being taken care of. If visitors are satisfied with their visit, then they will certainly come back again. They might also tell others about their experience and recommend the place.

Research Method The research method that will be adopted is a mixture between qualitative and quantitative.

Quantitative Under quantitative method, observation will be used for research. The reason as to why observation method is chosen is because it is necessary to observe the ongoing behavior of visitors. The observation will be conducted in different type of weather.

For observation, the plan is to go to Siloso Beach 2-4 times. During the visits, there are several points to observe. The current available shelters, current weather, how often does visitors use shelters, how often does visitors seek shelters and how does visitors react during foul weather.

Qualitative Under qualitative method, an interview will be conducted. In the interview, the participant will be asked a few open-ended, but straight-forward questions. From these questions, the information needed by this research about shelters will be collected. The purpose of having open-ended question is to give respondents freedom in answering according to their experience. There will be infinite amount of possible answer, thus, resulting in more diverse, full, and detailed answers.