Although the details are still sketchy, the Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, decked out in a pit crew outfit, said yesterday that the attractions will include an exhibition on F1 history and the brand new Singapore River Festival.

Dubbed the Singapore GP Season, the party, which will span three weekends, will surround qualifying runs and the race itself, he told a meeting of tourism industry bigwigs.

The tourism board is banking on events like the F1 and other major attractions opening this year, like the Singapore Flyer, to draw in 10.8 million visitors and $15.5 billion in tourist dollars.

Those numbers, if achieved, will set another slew of records for the booming sector. Last year, an all- time high of 10.3 million tourists visited Singapore, spending $13.8 billion.

Industry players like Mr Martin Symes, the chief executive officer of Bezurk.com, a Singapore-based travel bookings web site, noted that the 10.8 million visitor target was not a huge jump over the 10.3 million tourists who visited Singapore last year.

But the hope is that the tourists who do come will spend more here.

Sources also say that events like the F1, the cheapest tickets for which will cost $150, should help with that.

Besides the race, Mr Iswaran discussed several developments which will likely help Singapore hit its tourism targets despite the economic storm clouds on the horizon. These included:

The Volvo Ocean race, which will see super yachts and their teams and fans coming here in November;

Three major meetings and conventions companies have decided to set up shop in Singapore. This will be a boost to the meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) sector, which is expected to bring in at least $10.5 billion in 2015. This will represent 35 per cent of total tourism receipts.

The recently unveiled $360 million plan to train more workers for the tourism industry has already seen 4,300 people signing up and enrolling in tourism-related training courses.

Critics have said that high hotel room rates, which have increased 66 per cent since 2004, and a shortage of rooms are chasing away tourists.

In response to this, Mr Iswaran said that 12,000 rooms will be added over the next three or four years. Plus, 12 more land plots meant for new hotels will be made available in the first half of this year to ease the crunch.

NATALIE SOH AND LIM WEI CHEAN