The Asian Civilisation Museum now was actually the government office in the past. The building was constructed by convict labour. It was known as Government Offices back then. People back in that times may remember how it served them as a place to manage documents. From birth/death certificates to citizenships. It was then till the beginnning of the 20th century where they decided to rename it the Empress Place Building. Afterwhich in the 1990s exhibition of China was held and after much discussion they decided to use the place as a museum. In 2003, Asian Civilisation was born. It surely is an scenic view. As it is located at what seems to me a quiet side of the city area, right beside Singapore River. To get to ACM, it is a good 5 minute walks from Raffles Place MRT. Through the walk, you will see many attractions from Marina Bay Sands to Fullerton Hotel. All of which are carefully planned by the government.
I guess you must be wondering how is it like inside. The first thing that captivated me was the ambience and the vibe. The ambience was silent and echoic creating a stress-free environment. There was an instant segregation from the hustle and bustle of our busy lifestyle. I must say that the visitors played a major role in maintaining this favourable ambience. It made me a little conscious though, about the disturbing sound of my flip flops slapping against the wood flooring.
I guess you must be wondering how is it like inside. The first thing that captivated me was the ambience and the vibe. The ambience was silent and echoic creating a stress-free environment. There was an instant segregation from the hustle and bustle of our busy lifestyle. I must say that the visitors played a major role in maintaining this favourable ambience. It made me a little conscious though, about the disturbing sound of my flip flops slapping against the wood flooring.
Talking about the visitors brings me to my next point. As a tourism student, you know we have got this unintentional habit of applying what we have learnt to the attractions we visit. When I was there at the museum, there was not much of a crowd. All I saw was a few Westerners, that tat bit of locals and security guards who all seem nonchalant and chilled. This had my brain running for awhile. Which market does the museum actually target?
Based on my observation, yes, visitors, as always. They may or may not be day visitors. Basically, you will complete touring the museum in say 3 hours or more. There are mainly two types of visitors targeted. Each targeted visitors have their own motivating factor to make them interested in visiting Asian Civilisations Museum.
Firstly, family with children aged from 12-16. They usually go to Asian Civilisations Museum with educational purposes. To understand the history and culture of Singapore and see what may differ from their own. Similar to what the museums want to do-to promote awareness and appreciation of the ancestral cultures of Singaporeans.
Secondly, visitors who are seeking a slower paced travelling experience. The age group of this target market diversifies from 25-60 and above (senior citizens). This targeted group does not like energy-packed activities. Their main purpose is to seek relaxation and escape the hustles and bustles of busy lifestyles. At the same time, while relaxing they can have a educational takeaway.
Adding on, the museum also targets students aged 7 to 25 years old. In fact, they have carefully designed special programmes to cater to this market. They have actually two different programmes one for the lower primary (7-9 years old) and another for upper primary (10-12years old). In this programme, there will be guided tour and also a worksheet to ensure fun learning. From the bottom of my heart, the worksheet is really really interesting considering the fact that it was made for primary school students and I am already 18. I even tried the questions out. It is on the ACM’s webpage so, do look it up! I must say they have put in effort in making this worksheet to cater to the younger ones who love colours, puzzles and cartoons.
A page of the activity booklet
Photo credit: ACM
Photo credit: ACM
It also hopes to target students from generation Y (aged from 18 to 25). A few reasons to justify why I said so is that students are given free admission upon flashing their student card. Yeah, the word ‘free’ seems pretty attracting to the pocket-tight students. Adding on, they have included electronic guide stands to replace real tour guides. Hence, students can relate to the new concept of educational technology. The electronic guide stands involves the audience sense of touch and sight. The interactions from time to time help to interest the students with attention span of what our lecturers may say 30seconds. More to that, the government actually hope to educate and cultivate the younger generation to appreciate art and culture.
So, I have talked about how and what the museum have to attract the different targeted market. Now it comes to you! As students, we are often so caught up in our workload, fighting against time. Sometimes we forget why we are fighting so hard. During my visit to the museum, it definitely lifted the stress and pressure I had been carrying. The exhibitions have no windows/windows that have blinds so you don’t know if it is day or night. They only had dim lights that were soothing to the eyes. Everything around you is magnificently beautiful artifacts. Each of which, has their own story to tell. Amidst of the captivating stories, you get so absorbed into it that you forget your worries. Everyone needs their 'alone time' from time to time and I believe the museum serves as the best attraction for you to go to looking at your tight schedule. In short, the atmosphere and the experience at the museum will definitely attract you.
In addition, the museum features history, cultures and beliefs of the countries our forefathers came from, mostly in the Asian region. Visiting the museum gives you knowledge of not only how Singapore has evolved into a multi-ethnic country but also, the culture of each individual country of our forefathers. I promise you that it will be an enriching and educational trip to the museum.
In addition, the museum features history, cultures and beliefs of the countries our forefathers came from, mostly in the Asian region. Visiting the museum gives you knowledge of not only how Singapore has evolved into a multi-ethnic country but also, the culture of each individual country of our forefathers. I promise you that it will be an enriching and educational trip to the museum.
By now, you do see that the core product of the museum is to educate about history,culture,beliefs and also atmosphere. The tangible products are the artefacts, the quality of visit, sharing the museum with others, the museum’s popularity. The augmented product includes the souvenir shop, restaurant and café, the accessibility and opening hours.
Speaking of the quality of visit comes down to the staff. The Asian Civilisation Museum is a public attraction that is taken care of by the government (National Heritage Board). However, the operation of the museum incurs large expenditure looking just at the artefacts. The museum looks into ways to minimise expenditure. Likewise, goes for the manpower. The museum actually welcomes volunteers to become guides of the attraction. Not to mention, they are only allowed to become guides after the training. But this is what makes it special. As volunteers, they are all passionate about what they do. I cannot help but say this is the unique nature of the attraction as a service product. Being passionate and enthusiastic about what they do really bring out the top quality they can give to the guests. The professionalism that they possess affects how the product is perceived by the guests. Whether or not, the trip to the museum has been an enjoyable experience for them. Although it is a small aspect of the visit, but it is this small tiny details that make the trip a really enjoyable one for them. However, at this point in time, there is only a small pool of people that are interested in volunteering. For one, they do not understand history and culture. For two, Singaporeans usually lead a busy lifestyle. Lastly, people usually have other priorities that are more important than volunteering. Hence, volunteers are not to be dependent on.
Speaking of the quality of visit comes down to the staff. The Asian Civilisation Museum is a public attraction that is taken care of by the government (National Heritage Board). However, the operation of the museum incurs large expenditure looking just at the artefacts. The museum looks into ways to minimise expenditure. Likewise, goes for the manpower. The museum actually welcomes volunteers to become guides of the attraction. Not to mention, they are only allowed to become guides after the training. But this is what makes it special. As volunteers, they are all passionate about what they do. I cannot help but say this is the unique nature of the attraction as a service product. Being passionate and enthusiastic about what they do really bring out the top quality they can give to the guests. The professionalism that they possess affects how the product is perceived by the guests. Whether or not, the trip to the museum has been an enjoyable experience for them. Although it is a small aspect of the visit, but it is this small tiny details that make the trip a really enjoyable one for them. However, at this point in time, there is only a small pool of people that are interested in volunteering. For one, they do not understand history and culture. For two, Singaporeans usually lead a busy lifestyle. Lastly, people usually have other priorities that are more important than volunteering. Hence, volunteers are not to be dependent on.
Photo of a volunteer holding a mandarin tour
Photo credits: Asian Civilizations Museum Webpage
Photo credits: Asian Civilizations Museum Webpage
Secondly, the other characteristics include customers as part of the production process. The guests’ needs and wants varies from person to person and they perceive the museum to their own thoughts. For example, guests like me seek the serenity in the museum and believe that 'that' should be what a museum should like whereas other guest may deem it as boring. Hence, the museum faces the challenge of meeting needs/wants of the guests when it is so diversified.
Thirdly, we talk about how the service product is not standardised. An example is the number of guests visiting each day. It serves as a challenge because the museum will never know when there may be a large crowd. The large crowd may affect the experience of the other guests.
Photo Credits: ACM
Moving on, we see how the perishable product serves as a challenge to the museum. I believe one of the biggest challenge faced is trying to sell as much possible ticket for the day because the ticket for that day expires and becomes nothing but a piece of paper. The unused capacity can never be utilised again, it cannot be stored for future usage Therefore, serves as a challenge to the museum to balance the supply and demand of the product.
Next, as museums are service product, there is no tangible product for the guests to bring home. The museum merely sells an experience. Should the experience be bad for the guests, there is not much they can do to make it up to them. So, the challenge is to get it right the first time.
Lastly, the surroundings of the service delivery process serves as a challenge to the museum in a way it has to be functional yet attractive to the visitor. Moreover, the taste of people changes from time to time following the trends. At the current point in time, people are still into vintage architecture. But, things may not be the same in future.
So much said, if you are still not convinced about visiting the museum, the word of mouth will do it. I have read reviews on TripAdvisor. People who have went there generally love the historical value in the artefacts what may deem to them as really precious. More to that, the museum trip was memorable to them as it was informative and the place was stunning. Adding on, they also mentioned the friendly staffs that are more than willing to help them. It does a lot of justice to what I have told you earlier, doesn’t it?
As I mentioned earlier, different people have different needs. From the reviews, I see that the museums have been doing well to keep satisfy their needs. In terms of facilities, I believe that it has well meet the needs of the guests in a way there is restaurants to go to if they are hungry, there is a shop at level 1 that sells books and souvenirs should they want to purchase it be it for extra knowledge or for keepsake. In terms of programs, the museum has different events lined up for us. In fact, from 30th May 2013 to 8th December 2013, there will be another exhibition named “Devotion and Desire”. Basically, it changes in time and the variety of such programs lined up surely met the needs of the guests in terms of variety of exhibitions.
An artifact from the upcoming evnent "Devotion and Desire"
Photo credits: ACM
Photo credits: ACM
The museum is not all about satisfying the guests’ needs. They want to do more than that. This is what makes it unique. From creating ambience to more than satisfactory services provided to the variety of exhibitions. This is what makes it unique and different from other museums. So much so, that they do not really need to promote themselves as the word of mouth does their job for them. Surely, they do partner up with some tour service groups. Without doubt, they are successful in promoting themselves.
When it comes to the impacts the museum have on Singapore. The first thing that came into my mine was that it increases tourism receipt resulting in more revenue. Hence, it has brins about a positive economical impact to Singapore. It may have been familiar to you that there may be political impact as well. There have been debates about whether or not artefacts should be placed back into their place of origin. Surely, countries would a want to own the artefact for generates revenue for the country. Hence, there is also political impact to it. In fact, there is this movie by the name CZ12 starring Jackie Chan that talks about whether artefacts should be placed back to their origin country. I believe the artefacts in the museum are all rented at a high price. The artefacts of Singapore have remain where it should have been. It was unbelievable for me to see artefacts of my own country. Who would have know my small country would have precious historical artefacts too. I am not going to tell you what it is. So, come over and find it out for yourself!
At the front of the Asian Civilisations Museum Building
The left poster is advertising the exhibition
"Exploring The Cosmos: The Stupa as a Bhuddist Symbol"
With that whole truckload of information, I hope I have convinced you that Asian Civilisations Museum will be the right choice for you! I look forward to your arrival in Singapore. Hopefully you’ll have time to come back to visit Singapore again for there will be so many more attractions that you need to visit! For now, do take care. Adios!
References:
- Temasek Polytechnic. (2013) Attractions Management Lecture 1: Attractions Management in Perspective. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Department
- Temasek Polytechnic. (2013) Attractions Management Lecture 2: The Attractions Product. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Department
- Temasek Polytechnic. (2013) Attractions Management Lecture 3: Attraction Demand and Market Segmentation. Singapore: Temasek Polytechnic Leisure and Resort Management Department
- Dhenak, M.S, (2010, May 27) Retrieved May 22, 2013 from http://scribd.com/doc/32066562/1-Service-Characteristics
- Coldren, C. (n.d.) Retreived May 22, 2013 from http://www.rethinkmarketing.com/articles/ServMktg.htm
- Asian Civilisation Museum (n.d.). Retrieved May 20 2013 from website: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g294265-d310896-Reviews-Asian_Civilisations_Museum-Singapore.html#REVIEWS
- Asian Civilisation Museum (n.d.). Retrieved May 20 2013 from website: http://www.acm.org.sg/home/home.as
