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Sustainable events in Singapore: the garden city

Singapore Sustainable Incentive Travel Ideas

Singapore Sustainable Incentive Travel Ideas

Singapore, with nearly half of its land allocated to parks and gardens, is often touted as one of the greenest cities in the world. If you’re planning an event in Singapore and want to ensure that your activities are sustainable, then you couldn’t pick a better place. Singapore has been certified as a sustainable destination based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Destination Criteria. This reflects Singapore’s efforts and commitment in becoming a sustainable urban destination. The city-state has a wide range of sustainable event options to choose from and is working with event planners to deliver what they need, from sustainable incentive trips to conference hosting.

Sustainable Incentive Ideas and Event Activities In Singapore

Incentive events are a great way to motivate and engage your staff, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of the environment. In Singapore, there are a number of sustainable incentive activities to choose from that can easily be incorporated into events:

  1. Gardens by the Bay: Organise a guided tour of the Gardens and educate attendees about the various sustainable practices in place, such as the use of renewable energy sources and conservation of water. Marvel at the 16-storey trees inside the Flower Dome.
  2. Eat local: Singapore’s hawker centres are a must for every serious foodie and a chance to taste local delicacies. Take a tour with VegthisCity who cater for vegetarians and vegans.
  3. Marina Barrage: Host a cleanup activity at Marina Barrage, which serves as a freshwater reservoir and a popular recreation area. This can be an opportunity for you to incorporate CSR into your event as attendees give back to the community whilst learning about water sustainability and conservation.
  4. Rejuvenate: Supercharge your body with fitness, lifestyle and wellness options from yoga sessions in the heart of the bustling city to idyllic forays into the lush tropical landscape.
  5. City Rain Forest: Get up close with urban nature as seen at Bukit Timah, a vast expanse of primary rain forest that contains flying squirrels among the native plant species.
  6. The Asian Civilisations Museum: Organise a guided tour of the museum’s sustainable exhibitions, which showcase Asia’s rich cultural heritage and the efforts to preserve it for future generations.
  7. Urban Farming: Visit a local urban farm, where you can learn about sustainable agriculture and participate in hands-on activities such as planting and harvesting crops.
  8. Eco Tourism: Stroll through any of the 350-plus parks and reserves for an insight into the power of sustainable urban planning to boost biodiversity.
  9. Unwind: Located off the coast of Singapore, Pulau Ubin is a paradise of myriad ecosystems and thriving wildlife. Accessible via bumboat from Changi Point Ferry Terminal, this island sanctuary is home to a range of natural landscapes, from rocky beaches and granite quarries to coastal forests and mangroves. Pulau Ubin not only has rustic kampong (traditional village) settings, but also fascinating wildlife. While the island’s myriad charms can be experienced on foot or the back of a bicycle, we recommend taking your group on a Kayaking adventure down the scenic Pulau Ubin coastline.
  10. Green Workshops: Offer sustainable workshops such as Bettr Barista, a social enterprise offering a lovely workshop looking at the history and making of Kopi (coffee) that can be integrated into incentive programs.

Singapore Sustainable Hotel Recommendations

When it comes to choosing a hotel for your event, consider a property that has taken steps to be more environmentally friendly. In Singapore, there are a number of hotels that have committed to sustainability, including the Park Royal Pickering, the InterContinental Singapore, and the Mandarin Oriental. These hotels have implemented a range of initiatives, such as using energy-efficient lighting and air conditioning systems, sourcing local and organic food, and reducing waste through recycling and composting programs.

Pan Pacific Orchard Road

Opening in May 2023, Pan Pacific Orchard Road, Singapore will be the Group’s next flagship hotel and the group’s first zero waste property.

Designed by WOHA Architects, Pan Pacific Orchard embodies luxuriant tropical hospitality, featuring lush, open-air architecture. It will showcase four high-volume, open-air terraces (Forest, Beach, Garden and Cloud) brimming with more than 7,300sqm of foliage that covers more than 200% of the hotel’s land area. Every guest room affords an inimitable view of either terrace landscape or the cityscape of Singapore.

At the highest levels, the Cloud Terrace occupies the 18th to 23rd storeys. Here, Pan Pacific Orchard proudly presents the city’s only space for “meeting in the clouds” – a pillarless ballroom on the 18th floor with a sweeping capacity of 420 seats. This event space will present a dream setting for memorable events and celebrations, accompanied by a breezy vista of the city’s landscape.

Pan Pacific Orchard is BCA Green Mark Platinum-certified for its sustainability features, including renewable solar panel technology, an in-room filtered water system, and a bio-digester system that transforms food waste into cleaning water, driven by the sustainability agenda of Pan Pacific Hotels Group.

Park Royal Collection

Park Royal Collection Pickering is an iconic green structure with a hotel-in-a-garden design conception. Lush green leafiness enshrouds the hotel, with 15,000 square metres of lofty four-storey tall sky-gardens, reflecting pools, waterfalls, planter terraces and cascading vertical greenery which oxygenates the air, processing carbon and countering polution. Park Royal Collection Pickerings’ lush foliage constitutes more than 200% of the total land-area, a scale unprecedented in a built-up city centre. The hotel has a whole suite of sustainability initiatives including a plant based a-la-carte menu.

Also worth noting is Park Royal Collection Marina Bay, replete with sustainability initiatives and its own urban farm which grows over 60 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers used in the hotel’s farm-to-table, farm-to-bar and farm-to-spa concepts. The output of the Urban Farm provides nearly 20% of the hotel’s food supply and contributes to food security and resilience.

Oasia Resort Sentosa

Escape the bustle of the city and begin your wellness journey in Singapore by checking in to Oasia Resort Sentosa. Located on the sunny island resort of Sentosa, this wellness-focused hotel boasts a range of amenities to rejuvenate the mind and body.

The hotel’s Oasia Spa boasts a range of stellar wellness treatments and facilities, such as a meditation lounge that employs state of the art technology to simulate the traditional Japanese practice of Shinrin-yoku (forest bathing), cryotherapy facials and a range of massage packages. Guests looking to get active will also find a range of wellness activities to engage in, from yoga and sunrise qigong to tea appreciation sessions.

Sentosa is home to beaches that boast white sands and crystal-clear waters; the perfect destination for a lazy afternoon. Or, if you’re looking for an aquatic adventure to while away the rest of the late afternoon, make a beeline for Ola Beach Club. This Hawaiian-themed destination offers a range of water sports for fitness enthusiasts, from kayaking to stand-up paddling.

Singapore Sustainable Venue Recommendations

Resorts World Sentosa recently became the first in the world to achieve Events Industry Council’s 2022 Sustainable Events Standards Platinum certification for Venue.

Sands Convention Centre/Marina Bay Sands is the first MICE facility is SE Asia to obtain ISO 20121 Sustainable Events Management System certification and one of the single largest buildings in Singapore to be conferred the Green Mark Platinum award by the Building and Construction Authority

How to get there

To reduce the carbon footprint of your flight

  • fly economy (more people per square metre means less fuel used for every person transported)
  • fly direct (it’s the taking off and landing part of a flight that causes the most pollution)

Arriving at Singapore’s Changi Airport, you’ll instantly understand why Singapore is known as a Garden City. Lush canopy forests surround a cascading indoor waterfall, flora and fauna stretch into the sky from the rooftop gardens and koi carp swirl below the surface of tranquil ponds. With more than 500,000 plants, it’s more greenhouse than airport. Make some time for a tour.


For more Singapore sustainable incentive travel ideas or help hosting incentive trips, meetings or events get in touch with the team.

TEL : 020 7610 2808 – EMAIL : info@evolve-events.com