Asian Civilisation Museum

 

Asian Civilisation Museum

Introduction 

 

Hello Samantha, how are you doing at Australia? Heard that you just got promoted to college? Congratulations! It’s being long since we last met, we should really meet up soon.  I just received your email and I heard that you need to visit one of the Tourist Attraction in Singapore. I have researched and I decided that the Asian Civilisation Museum at Raffles Place is the best site to visit during your stay in Singapore. Here are some of the details about the Museum that I believe it will help you a lot when you come to Singapore for site visit. So you must be wondering why Asian Civilisation Museum and not other Museum. The reason is because

1) This Museum was constructed during 1860's and act as a government building until it refurnished decades later and becomes a Museum

2) It was building that was built by convicts.

3) The Museum shows a lot of interesting artifacts that help to promote Singapore's multi-ethnic society.

4) This Museum has 5 different themes of exhibition namely, Singapore River, China, South-East Asia, South Asia and West Asia.

5) A special exhibition located at the lobby and the themes will change during times and seasons

 

 A photo of the building in the past

 

 

 

A) How will you classify the attraction according to the visitors market? 

First as for the classification of the attractions in terms of visitor markets, the museum targets kid as young as 5 years old to senior citizens as old as 60-70 years of age. It is also open for both males and females and likelihood it is for the day visitors as it is a museum that can be cover within a day. I personally took about 2 hours in the museum to basically walk around and look at the interesting artifacts which I will show you some pictures in the later part of the post. The Museum basically targets the young families, tourist and locals who have interests in the artifacts of South-East Asia dated back 200 years ago. Students are also the Museum’s secondary target market. Around the vicinity of the museum, there are actually quite a number of place of accommodation and the nearest is of course, The Fullerton Hotel which is just directly opposite the museum itself. Ascott Raffles Place Singapore is also one of the places of accommodation as it is about just 5-10 minutes of walk. Other places of accomodation around the vicinity of Raffles Place include Swissotel Merchant Court, The Club Hotel, and Scarlet Hotel. As for means of transport, there are many different ways to reach there. First, you can take MRT and alight at Raffles Place Mrt station and walk towards exit G, walk past Fullerton Hotel and across Anderson Bridge. Bus numbers such as 75, 100, 107, 130, 131, and 167 can also reach the Museum. If you are still not sure about the destination, you can cab down to the Museum and the address is 1 Empress Place Singapore (179555). 

Lobby of the Asian Civilisation Museum

B) What are the motivating factors that will interest your friend to visit the recommended attraction? 

Hey it’s me again! On the first post I provided you a clear idea of the classification of the Museum. Next I am going to tell you more about the motivating factors which will attract visitors. Asian Civilisation Museum is basically one of the National Museums of Singapore under the National Heritage Board. The Museum is also formerly once a government house for Citizen's Registry, Immigration Department, and Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Another cool factor that I found out is that this “used to be government building” museum was constructed by convicts at the cost of Euro $53,000. Sound cool isn’t it? Government house build by convict that transform into Museum decades later. On top of that different themes of exhibition in the Museum is another motivating factor on the recommended attraction.

 

Asian Civilisation Museum is a museum of having a core to provide education to promote a better appreciation of the rich cultures that make up Singapore's multi-ethnic society. Some of the tangible products include artifacts being showcase there, information description of the artifacts, the guided tours provided upon request and the information board located at every staircase that provide an overview of the map at the Museum. Some of the augmented products are the ambience, handicapped automatic doors and also the car-park facilities provided behind the Museum.

Some tangible benefits in the Museum include the artefacts and the information boards of the different artifacts whereas some intangible benefits include the atmosphere of the exhibition around the whole of the Museum. The quiet environment at the Museum is also one of the intangible benefits that you will be able to find at the Museum. 

Construction of ACM

Information description about Hell

Information description about one of the artifacts

C) Describe the unique nature of the attraction as a service product, in the context of your selected attraction. What challenges does this pose for the attraction?

The staff involved in producing and delivering the product are part of the product itself.

The staffs at ACM are rather nice whereby when I first step into the Museum, the customer service lady greeted me with a warm smile and ask me to write my particulars as students get free admission to the Museum. On top of that the security guards around the Museums are also very friendly and approachable as they will roughly explain to us what the artifacts are. This shows that despite just being employed for crowd control, the security even make an effort to get to know about the artifacts so that they can be like the tour guide for the Museum. Staffs are very important because if the staffs have a bad attitude, it will greatly affect the name and the reputation of the Museum. Some challenges face might be the visitors are too rely on the security guards for information about the artifacts that they actually forget that they are being hired as a security to ensure the safety of the artifacts but not a tour guide there.

The customers themselves are involved in the production process. 

Customers are involved in the production line basically means that the visitors in the museum can actually take part in the production of the new exhibits in the Museum. Customers are able to give in suggestion at the suggestion corner to vote for the next exhibition that is going to be carrying out. One challenge face is that some visitors might contribute unwanted suggestions or suggestions that are not appropriate on the list and as a result Museum has to spend a lot of time filtering the suggestion board. 

The service product is not standardized.

The service product in the Museum are always not standardize for example, you cannot change an opinion about how visitors feel after going to the Museum. Different people serve in different ways. In the Museum, there are a lot of service products. Examples are the customer service lady and the security guards. One of the challenge is that because different service provider have different way of serving, it will result in inconsistency in the service and because of this, training might be required to ensure the consistency of the service provider. 

Always changing exhibition

The product is perishable , cannot be stored.

The admission of the Museum is $5 for adults and $2.50 for concession and if for group of 20 it is $4 for adult and $2 for concession. Students who are Singaporean citizens are being subsidy and can go into the Museum for free. One of the challenge face is that the admission of the Museum cannot be store for later use as it must be used on that day itself upon purchased. As a result of this the number of tickets published and how much each ticket cost will really be a challenge for the committee in the Museum.
 

Prices for the Museum

There is no tangible product to carry home.

The artifacts cannot be brought home because it is being preserved by the government but visitors are able to take pictures with the artifacts. One of the challenge face is that visitor will tend to mingle around with the product despite being told not to do so because what they can only bring back is the experience at the Museum and as a result of this, they will want to get closer to the artifacts to get a better experience with the artifacts.

Some artifacts at the Museum

This is actually a chair. FOR REALLL!!!!

Familiar? Chinese God of War. Guan Yu

The surroundings of the service delivery process are a feature of the service.

The surroundings of the service delivery process in the Museum include the features and the wallpaper of the wall, the handicapped facilities for the handicap, the seats at the Museum and the barricades around the artifacts. One challenge that the Museum might face is that the visitors will still cross over the barricades when told not to so as to get a closer look at the artifacts. Visitors also might vandalize the wallpaper which will result in causing an unpleasant experience towards the yet to come visitors.


D) Why do I think that the attraction has been highly ranked on TripAdvisor?

Hey there! Basically this post today is about how effective is the museum in promoting itself and how successful are the museum in meeting the needs of the visitors. The target markets for Asian Civilisation Museum are basically the young families, tourist and locals who have interests in the artifacts of South-East Asia dated back 200 years ago. Students are also the Museum’s secondary target market due to the fact that the Museum provides out-of-school education for the students. The Museum have met the needs of the target market because firstly, it provide education and fun for the students and the visitors there, be it tourists or locals. Interactives and video displays provide a clearer picture and better understanding for the visitors there. Something unique about this Museum is that the exhibition at the front of the Museum is always changing due to times and seasons. The previous time I went months ago, it was showcasing the Terracotta warriors and recently I went back, it was exhibiting about the lacquer artifacts during the olden days South-East Asia. I don’t know about the rest but me as a visitor I like something fresh and the moment I go in is always something new and something unique. This is the third time I went there and of all 3 times, 2 are for projects purposes and one is for leisure purpose. The unique factor is really just the ever-changing exhibition. On top of that, I have visited the trip-advisor main webpage and read through the reviews of the visitors who have been to the Museum before. Ranging from great ambience to friendly staffs and to interesting and beautiful artifacts are some of the comments given by the public. Therefore this further proves that Asian Civilisation Museum is no doubt one of the top list attraction in the Trip-Advisor page.

What makes the attraction better than the competition is that it showcases a wide range of artifacts, ranging from South-East Asia’s trading products to the products of the different religions. It provides education of all the different religions and promotes Singapore’s multi-racial and religious vision. It has been successful in promoting itself because I interviewed some of the visitors during my few trips there and I found out that majority of the visitors go to the Museum because they want to know more about the culture of Singapore and the different religious beliefs of different religion which is in line with the aim of the Museum which is to promote a better appreciation of the rich cultures that make up Singapore's multi-ethnic society. 
 

The upcoming exhibition

Malay Orchestra!!!!

Chinese believes that when you die, this are the two people you will first meet in Hell.

E) Comment on the impact the attraction has on Singapore? 

The impacts Asian Civilisation Museum has on Singapore are basically social and economic.

Due to the fact that Asian Civilisation Museum aim to promote a better appreciation of the rich cultures that make up Singapore's multi-ethnic society, it helps and creates social cohesion of the people living in Singapore as now they are more educated on the different cultures and different religious beliefs. As a result of this, they are more sensitive towards the dos and don’ts when conversing with people of different ethnic group. Thus because of this, it will as a result cause minimize the risk of potential racial riot happening in Singapore. Therefore one of the impacts that the Museum has on Singapore is the social impact

Next, due to the fact that the Museum has admission charges for non-Singaporean, visitors have to pay a certain amount of admission fees to enter the Museum. As a result of this, tourists that visit the Museum will have to pay a certain amount of money and thus lead to the increase of the Tourism Receipts. On top of that tourists will also need to spend some money on food after a long day in the Museum. This includes places like Lao Pa Sat and Timbre whereby tourist can relax and hang around and enjoy the nightlife of Singapore’s business district area. Because of the expenses spend on food, it also contribute to the Tourism Receipts and thus have an impact on Singapore economically. Lodging after a long day at Museum also will create an increase in Tourism Receipts and as a result of this, the Museum also creates an impact on Singapore’s economic indirectly as food and lodging is essential for tourist. Thus one of the impacts that the Museum has on Singapore is economic impact.

 

ME in the Museum!!!

I WAS THERE!!!!!