Oil spills can also have detrimental effects on the tourism industry in Singapore. Beaches such as Sentosa, St John’s Island (previously known as Pulau Sekijang Bendara) and Sisters’ Islands are among the various tourist attractions that help garner in billions of dollars in revenue for the local tourism industry. Sentosa and St John’s Island serve as leisure venues and getaways while Sisters’ Islands serve as the first ever marine park in Singapore.

Oil-slicked seawalls and shorelines at St John’s Island

Photo source: St John’s Island Marine Lab Facebook page

 Signage put up by Sentosa at Kusu Island

Photo source: Kusu Island Oiled

Traces of oil on Kusu Island’s shore

Photo source: Kusu Island Oiled

Patches of oil slicks on Kusu Island’s shore

Photo source: Kusu Island Oiled

Oil spills that occur in these areas of tourist attractions would deter tourists as well as locals from visiting for a holiday or lead to visitors cutting short their holidays on these islands. Take for example the incident in 1993 which involved an oil tanker and an LPG carrier, in the regions near Sentosa, it took a toll of a million dollars on the hotel industry.

Not only would the tourism industry lose a huge portion of its revenue, the relevant authorities in Singapore would have to fork out a large amount of money as well as manpower efforts in cleaning up these oil spills. These costs would snowball to become a liability for Singapore’s economy, given the fact that the local economy is very much dependent on the tourism industry.