This tourist souvenir postcard shows (clockwise, from left to right): an image of the Merlion sculpture superimposed against the backdrop of Marina Bay with the Oriental Hotel and Benjamin Sheares Bridge in the background; a street bazaar in the heart of Chinatown; and the Centrepoint (left) and Orchard Point (right) shopping malls along the Orchard Road tourist and shopping belt.The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) was created in 1964 as a statutory board by the government to develop and promote Singapore as a tourist destination. Following its establishment, the STPB actively encouraged investment in tourist infrastructure such as hotels, shopping facilities and tourist attractions and aggressively marketed Singapore as a holiday destination. Such efforts paid off, with tourist arrivals increasing from 100,000 in 1964 to over 2 million by 1978. The tourism boom created a thriving trade in souvenirs, which included postcards that depicted various tourist attractions and sceneries in Singapore.
