SINGAPORE - The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is crowdsourcing ideas to tackle problems faced by hotels and travel agents.

Companies can submit proposals to the STB from now until Aug 28 with their solutions on how to deliver better customer experiences and understand customers' demands, among other issues.

These problems, which cover a range of areas, were identified through STB's engagement sessions with the industries.

Proposals will be evaluated based on their ingenuity and their ability to best address the problem areas, as well as companies' track records and competencies, said the STB.

The agency will fund up to 70 per cent of the qualifying costs for selected proposals. The chosen firms will have to deliver feasible prototypes for trial and eventually implement their plans if the trial is deemed successful.

Said STB chief technology officer Quek Choon Yang: "With manpower constraints and rising consumer demands, our core industries of hotels and travel agents need to look for creative ways to build customer loyalty and improve efficiencies.

"We are therefore putting out these Tourism Innovation Challenges to elicit smart and innovative technology solutions that can best address issues faced by our hotels and travel agents."

Apart from funding support, the STB will also be conducting networking sessions where technology solution providers can link up with hotels and travel agents.

The Tourism Innovation Challenges are open to all Singapore-registered technology solutions firms. For more information, interested parties can visit https://www.stb.gov.sg/trade-events/Pages/Tourism-Innovation-Challenges….