July 23: A bungee jump tower in Sentosa and a luxury cruise experience beckon Calcuttans to Singapore this Puja and after.

The Singapore Tourism board is conducting daylong road shows in all its tier two cities, including Calcutta, this month to attract more tourists.

Around 30,000 tourists visit Singapore from Calcutta every year, making it a tier-two city along with Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

Tier-one cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore contribute to around 100,000 tourists to the destination annually.

"Our demarcation is based on the flow of tourists from each city," said G.B. Srithar, the regional director (South Asia, West Asia and Africa) of the Singapore Tourism Board.

"We are offering new attractions and activities to our tourists, especially festival tourists and repeat visitors," said Yuemin LiMisra, the area director (India) of the Singapore Tourism Board.

Singapore will have its first bungee jump tower in Sentosa by next month. It will also offer a new luxury cruise experience - Genting Dream - to visitors by November. "Durga Puja tourists will have a lot more activities and tours to choose from," LiMisra said.

Most Calcuttans go to Singapore either on a family vacation or to study, said tour operators, besides a handful of Formula One fans who go there to enjoy the night races.

Business travellers account for less than 10 per cent of the flow and the business class of a Calcutta-Singapore direct flight has few takers, said aviation industry sources. For any tier-one city, business tourists alone account for a large chunk of traffic.

Tour operators, however, pointed at a "20 per cent rise in tourist booking to Singapore this Puja vacation".

"A two-year Singapore visa offers multiple entries to the country during that period. So many tourists from Calcutta are going back for a repeat visit. Sometimes they club it with Bangkok or Malaysia since the packages are affordable," said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents' Federation of India.

India is the fourth largest market for Singapore with a record 1.1 million tourists visiting Singapore last year. However, there is a huge gap in the flow of tourists from a tier-one and a tier-two city.