I visited the attraction on a Thursday as I felt that it will be less crowded during the weekdays. There was a rather manageable crowd that day, with people of different age, mainly ranging from 12-30. There were groups of students exploring the aquarium which I guess they were here for an excursion. A fair ratio of male and female visitors could be seen, in fact there were many couples who came together to have a date. I feel that their primary target market are students and young adults as we are more interested to learn and it is the age where we are always curious.
There were also many families with children around, the aquarium is a good place for both the young and adult to visit and learn things together. Families could interact and have stronger bonds while enjoying themselves in the aquarium and be fascinated with the array of species they can find in there. As it is located at Resorts World Sentosa, we can easily get there by taking the Sentosa Express. Tourist living in hotels in Sentosa for instance Hotel Michael, Festive Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel would be more interested to visit the site as it is nearly a stone throw away.
I personally feel that the aquarium cater to a wide range of personality. Visitors who are more reserved can just head down to the aquarium and slowly brisk through enjoying the relaxing atmosphere watching the fishes swim pass them. On the other hand, visitors who are fun-loving and adventurous like you are able to have an experience to touch the star fishes! You would definitely love the Shark Sea.
Staff guiding the students who are touching the starfish
Why do I feel that it is a must go place in Singapore? Well firstly, you will be able to learn more about Marine life and get to see them up close swimming freely around the large aquarium. Secondly, the atmosphere in the Aquarium is really good. I felt very relax when I was there, watching the fishes swimming freely around me it made me feel free too. The environment was really serene, I felt that stress was gone in there. Thirdly, the staffs there are really friendly and approachable, always serving us with a bright smile on their face. They are more than willing to help us out with our doubts, they definitely made the whole experience a wonderful one. You will also walk through the Maritime museum on your way in the aquarium.
Maritime museum
The core product of the aquarium is the knowledge visitors can gain about the Marine Life. The Tangible products to me where the photos that were taken by the staff at the entrance, souvenirs and brochures. Lastly the augmented products were the atmosphere, the toilet, food and beverage outlet and wheelchair friendly slopes. The tangible and augmented products are really important in facilitating our experience there, for instance the wheelchair friendly slope does not only help the disabled it also facilitates family with prams. I could find toilet almost everywhere I go, it made me felt at ease as my stomach was rather upset that day.
I guess you will definitely love the view in there especially all the marine life you get to see. I can already imagine your fascinated face. The are boards by the side of the tanks filled with some information of the marine life in it, you can easily learn from there. There were really cute dolls of marine life sold at the souvenir shop and pretty shirts too, you should definitely get one of those! If you would like to, you can also sign up for the Marine Dicoverer Tour which is a 90 minutes guided tour around the aquarium and is only available from 11am to 3pm.
As I have mentioned earlier, the staffs made the experience a more enjoyable one. I felt that with them around it really facilitates my whole time in there clearing my doubts about certain Marine Life and also assuring me when I was trying to touch the starfish. As the main product is the knowledge we gain about marine life, it is intangible, we can only buy souvenirs for instance the dolphin soft toys and more.
The aquarium has answered my questions and doubts with the guiding boards around teaching me about the different creatures I see. I definitely enjoyed looking at the jellyfish and dolphins. The changing lights in the jellyfish tanks made them even more beautiful. It attracted my attention, I even stood there for awhile longer just to watch how the jelly fishes will look like in the different colours.
The uniqueness of the place to me was the Marine Life itself as we do not have the chance to see so many marine life in our normal daily routine, furthermore we get to see them up close. The big tanks in there made me feel like I am under the sea too. We will not get this experience anywhere else. Compared to The Underwater World Marine life park is so much larger and has much more species of Marine life. The ambience in there was also a plus point for them. The background music played at the Ocean Gallery made me not want to go home, I sat there and watched the Marine life swim. An hour past unknowingly. From the reviews on Tripadvisor the S.E.A Aquarium is definitely successful in promoting themselves, there were many satisfied review and comments made about their visit here and stated how much they enjoyed themselves. One even mention that it is a truly must do thing in Singapore!
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With the S.E.A Aquarium around there are some impacts on the country. For instance economic impact, the attraction will definitely increase tourism receipts and create job opportunities. It being man-made for attraction is already a factor which will increase the receipts, following its good ratings on Tripadvisor has definitely gained the interest of tourist coming to Singapore. While at their stay in Singapore there are many other activities they can do, for example they will live in hotels then maybe visit the Orchard shopping belt and have a shopping spree. All this activities will also help our economy to do better. The attraction needs employees and hence creating job opportunites in the country. An aquarium so big will definitely need a handful of staff to maintain the attraction.
I hope this will help you in planning your itinerary here, as you just got yourself one more attraction to visit! Give me a call if you need any help around Singapore. See you soon! :D
References:
S.E.A Aquarium. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20 2013 from website: http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Homepage/ThingsToDo/MarineLifePark/SEAAquarium
Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attractions Management Lecture 1: Attractions Management in Perspective. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.
Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attractions Management Lecture 2: Attractions as Service Products. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.
Temasek Polytechnic. (2011). Attractions Management Lecture 3: Attractions Demand & Market Segmentation. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Division.
