Indy's tourism leaders seek inspiration from Singapore's Gardens By The Bay in $85K trip

A team of 25 Indianapolis tourism, culture and city leaders looking to redevelop the White River are embarking on a first-of-its-kind, $85,000 international mission to seek inspiration from an unlikely place: the island city-state of Singapore.

Located halfway across the world from Indiana, Singapore's almost $1 billion national Gardens By the Bay park will be studied by the team on the Nov. 14 to 17 trip led by Visit Indy, the tourism nonprofit. Specifically, the team will learn how the city-state cleaned and transformed its waterfront into a tourism destination.

The Singapore park's iconic Supertrees, decked with solar cells and an array of tropical plants, have been featured in the documentary series Planet Earth II and the movie Crazy Rich Asians.

The Indianapolis team includes the city's Director of Metropolitan Development, Rusty Carr, and leaders from the White River State Park, Indiana Destination Development Corporation, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Keystone Group, Citizen’s Energy Group, Downtown Indy, Indy Chamber, the Capital Improvement Board, and the Indiana Governor’s Office.

The group has been studying how to transform the river into a new tourist destination over the past three years in light of the major ongoing development projects along the White River, said Chris Gahl, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Visit Indy. These projects include the 16 Tech Innovation District, the new Elanco Global Headquarters at the former General Motors Stamping Plan, the city-driven Riverside Promenade as well as Citizens Energy Group's cleanup of the White River.

"We landed on Singapore because its $1 billion investment in Gardens by the Bay specifically has driven tourism and enhanced the quality of life and economic development," Gahl said.

The team lands in Singapore Tuesday and will stay until Friday. They will meet with tourism officials, leaders involved in the city-state's waterfront developments, water sustainability experts, and a lead developer of Gardens By The Bay.

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"Now is the time to activate and be inspired and be bolder in the vision for Indy as a tourism destination," Gahl said. "And if we don't act now, we will lose and miss this opportunity to leverage everything that's happening in the White River, specifically downtown. We from a tourism perspective, see this as a tipping point."

With this lens, Gahl said, the team wants to step outside of its comfort zone and visit a best-in-class, best practice tourism destination in Singapore that leverages its waterfront.

Where the $85,000 for the Singapore trip is coming from

The trip costs $85,000, not including flights and lodging, which are paid for by the individuals or organizations on the trip, Gahl said.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation has given $35,000 through a state Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative dollars, or READI, grant. The Indianapolis Foundation has donated $30,000 and Visit Indy is investing $20,000 from a non-public portion of its budget.

Ninety percent of Visit Indy's approximately $15 million annual budget comes from the city's Capital Improvement Board. The other 10% comes from the private sector's nominal partnership annual fee. The trip's expenses will come from the latter portion.

Carr's flight and lodging is covered by a Central Indiana Community Foundation scholarship, not taxpayer dollars, according to Gahl and the city.

The price tag amounts to about $850 a person a day, which Gahl said will pay for meals, ground transportation, meeting space rental, tour admission and luggage storage.

Gahl said the cost is an estimate and it is probable not all the money will be spent.

Lessons from Singapore, adapted to Indy

Visit Indy has taken domestic study missions to learn more about waterside developments in Austin, San Antonio and Cincinnati but this is the first time the group has gone on an international trip of this nature.

There are likely to be differences between how Singapore developed its waterfront and how Indianapolis would do something similar along the White River.

For one, Singapore's $1 billion Gardens By The Bay Project receives government money and is operated by the National Parks Board. The park was introduced by the city-state's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Singapore's National Day Rally in 2005.

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In the U.S., Gahl said, National Parks status is hard to achieve and may not be a viable path forward for Indianapolis' White River.

Rather, he said, the team is exploring what a public-private partnership to stitch together the private and city-led projects coming to the river could look like.

"What is the common thread that can be pulled throughout all of them so that to a visitor, it's a seamless experience," Gahl said. "Whether you walk from the JW (Marriott) to the White River's expansion and then head over to GM Stamping for a meal and then over to Eleven Park for a soccer match."

Contact IndyStar reporter Ko Lyn Cheang at kcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis' tourism leaders to study Singapore's Gardens By The Bay