Asia-Pacific Power List 2025: Kenneth Lim, Singapore Tourism Board

Kenneth Lim

Assistant chief executive (marketing)
Singapore Tourism Board
Singapore
Member since 2024  

Marketing a destination is no easy feat, what more for a small city-state destination like Singapore which faces tough competition from neighbours that house white-sand beaches and lush forests. Nevertheless, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) continues to punch above its weight with the magic of excellent marketing and brand positioning. 

The person spearheading this for the nation is Kenneth Lim, an STB veteran who has done muchly well for himself to succeed the pre-Covid glory days of former marketer Lynette Pang. In 2024, Singapore’s tourism sector posted strong recovery with spending reaching $22.4 billion between January to September, a 10% increase from the same period in 2023. International visitor arrivals reached 16.5 million in 2024, a 21% growth year-on-year. 

One tactic Lim and his team engaged in 2024 was to leverage entertainment partnerships in film, TV, music and other formats, as well as collaborations with global celebrities. Take Coldplay’s ‘Man In the Moon’ music video endorsed by STB, for example, which featured the nation’s many landmarks including the Jewel Rain Vortex. The video brought in a cool 200 million unique social-media users and half a million impressions and generated $5.3 million worth of coverage in PR value across local and global publications. 

Lim also launched the ‘Made in Singapore’ campaign, anchoring on STB’s Passion Made Possible positioning to showcase Singapore more widely on the global stage. Across global landmarks such as London’s Picadilly Circus and Mumbai’s Phoenix Palladium Mall, STB commissioned a series of 3D billboards with the aim of inspiring travel to Singapore. Simultaneously, the ‘World’s Best MICE City’ campaign tapped into Singapore’s strength as a business events hub—supported by Changi Airport’s global connectivity.

To adapt to changing traveller behaviours, Lim often encourages his team to sharpen STB’s approach through deeper data analysis and a shift towards a social-first strategy. This has enabled sharper targeting and deeper engagement, such as Singapore’s campaign to reinforce its status as a ‘culinary capital’. By deploying a social-first strategy using the hashtag #foodinspo, the campaign aimed to showcase Singapore’s local foods through a musical menu. 

These efforts and more have amounted to Singapore being consistently commended in global travel lists. Among many others, the city-state was featured in Euromonitor’s Top 10 City Destinations for 2024, and ranked second globally as a leisure and MICE destination in Ipsos’ Brand Health Study.