Use of mobile digital footprint to understand how COVID-19 impacts the visitors to art places in Singapore

1.1.COVID-19 timeline in Singapore

The timeline for the COVID-19 measures in Singapore is critical for this study as it provides insights into the developments and subsequently explains the rationale for choosing certain timeframe as pre- and post-COVID-19 measures. Post-COVID-19 is more related to the end of restrictive measures in Singapore instead of the end of the pandemic.

Fig. 1.

COVID-19 timeline in Singapore. Source: [6,13].

In [6], it summarized the timeline of the COVID-19 measures in Singapore. Singapore had its first Covid-19 case on 23 Jan 2020. The group size was first capped at 10 people on 27 March 2020. Subsequently, more restrictive measures were kicked in, such as households not allowed to receive visitors and no social gatherings. The first phase of reopening was on 2 June 2020, with further relaxation until 8 May 2021. Since then, the group size was again reduced. From 8 May 2021 to 10 August 2021, the number of persons within a group allowed to gather is constantly moving between 2 to 8. On 10 August 2021, the Singapore government announced it to be in the “preparatory stage of reopening”. On 27 September 2021, it is labelled as the “stabilization phase” while on 22 November 2021, it is labelled as the “transition phase”. On 29 March 2022, outdoor mask-wearing is no longer mandatory. By the start of 2022, Singapore feels it is in the stage of opening its border and economy.

2.1.Data collection and processing

Data was collected via CITYDATA.ai, which collects trillions of data points every month. This is based on movement signals at relevant moments and without accessing the personal information of the mobile phone users. The users’ identity is hash-coded and anonymized to ensure privacy and accountability of users’ movements.

The first chart (Fig. 2) shows the raw data provided by CITYDATA.ai. In unfiltered and untreated data, the data collected has the key information such as (1) its identifier as “device id” in hash-coded, (2) the precise time of the data collection, and (3) the GPS signal in both latitude and longitude as well as the horizontal accuracy. The individual movement can be traced using the device ID.

The second chart (Fig. 3) illustrates how the data collected was analysed in this paper. Based on the list of art places with their geospatial details (or points of interest “POI”) provided to CITYDATA.ai, the corresponding data in its anonymized and aggregated format was generated. Based on the specified timeframe period, the big database can identify which “device” has visited the POI. As such, further details, such as the duration of which individual device has been within the same destination can be inferred from the big database. All these individual devices on an aggregated basis can provide meaningful data, such as the number of devices that have been to the POI and how long the devices in total stayed within the POI boundaries.

Fig. 2.

Example of the raw data collected by CitiData.Ai, a third-party registered data broker.

Fig. 3.

Data analysis based on the raw information collected by Citidata.Ai.

The period selected for this study for the pre-COVID-19 period is between week 36 to week 40 (Sep–Oct) for the year 2019 (5 weeks in total). This is approximately 3 months before the COVID-19 outbreak. The post-COVID-19 selected is between weeks 1 to 5 (Jan–Feb) of year 2022 (5 weeks in total). This is the period during which the Singapore government has started to resume normalcy after the “preparatory stage of reopening” in August 2021, the “stabilization phase” on 27 September 2021 and the “transition phase” starting from 22 November 2021.

Using the aggregated results of each POI or art place, insights on each art place, such as the number of visitors for the pre-post COVID-19 periods is gathered. Furthermore, the time spent on each art place can also be provided. Trend analysis and big data analysis then further reflected the consumption patterns of art places in a pre-post COVID-19 period. Comparison can be made between a myriad of combinations, such as different art places, weekday vs weekend patterns, and pre vs. post-period.

2.2.List of art places in Singapore

The list of arts places in Singapore was created from (1) the National Arts Council (NAC), (2) the National Heritage Board (NHB), (3) visitsingapore.com by Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and (4) roots.gov.sg by NHB. These 4 sources are statutory authorities of Singapore with a special focus on the arts, heritage, tourism as well and historical preservation of Singapore. These themes are closely aligned to the area of study. In total, there are 199 places identified based on one or more of the following criteria as below:

3.1.Most visited and least visited art places for 2019 and 2022

Based on the CITYDATA.ai information for the period of week 36 to week 40 in the year 2019, the most visited art places are TAS Theatre in the Chinatown area, Singapore City Gallery which is housed in the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and HDB Livingspace which is housed in the Housing Development Board (HDB) Headquarters. The average number of visitors is approximately 13,000 per week. On another hand, the least popular art places are Fort Siloso, Army Museum of Singapore and Sustainable Singapore Gallery at Marina Barrage.

Based on the CITYDATA.ai information for the period of week 1 to week 5 in the year 2022, the most visited art places are Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Heritage Museum, Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum and Kreta Ayer Heritage Gallery which is near the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. The average number of visitors is approximately 2,000 to 5,000 per week. On another hand, the least popular art places are Jurong Town Hall, NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the Istana.

The most frequent art places that appear for both the studied periods in 2019 and 2022 are (1) Kreta Ayer Heritage Gallery, (2) Working Class Hero by Zero and (3) Mural of Bruce Lee by School of Design. The Kreta Ayer Heritage Gallery and Mural of Bruce Lee by the School of Design are located in the ‘Chinatown’, a traditional Chinese enclave in Singapore while the mural ‘Working Class Hero by Zero’ is located in ‘Little India”, a traditional Indian enclave in Singapore.

The least frequent art places that appear for both the studied period in 2019 and 2022 are (1) Fort Siloso, (2) Army Museum of Singapore, (3) Haw Par Villa and (4) Science Centre Singapore.

3.2.Number of visitors in 2019 vs 2022

Weekday vs Weekend for 2019:

Based on the CITYDATA.ai information for the period of week 36 to week 40 in the year 2019, the average daily visitors for all the art places compiled on weekdays and weekends are 155,237 and 122,020 respectively. This represented that the weekend visitors are 22% less than the weekday visitors. The data set provided is unable to distinguish if the visitors are residents or non-residents. However, the lower percentage of visitors on weekends indicates that the majority of the visitors could be non-residents, as they can afford to visit the art places during workdays.

Below are the top 10 places that attract visitors on weekends more than a weekday. These 10 places have some trends such as it attracts visitors that are more likely to be of family or couple setting. For example, Singapore Discovery Centre targets families with young kids. Singapore Sports Museum caters to both families and couples who like to engage in sports activities. Gillman Barrack and Esplanade are suitable places for dating and going for a walk on the weekend.

Below are the top 10 places that attract visitors on weekdays more than weekends. One of the common features of these 10 places is that most of them cater more for educative purposes for a certain group that works or studies on weekdays. For example, the Home Team Gallery is dedicated to homeland security forces, while Army Museum of Singapore is dedicated to Singapore armed forces. IRAS Gallery is dedicated to the tax authority of Singapore. NTU Centre, Raffles College, Chung Cheng High School, National University of Singapore are educational institutions.

Weekday vs weekend for 2022

Based on the CITYDATA.ai information for the period of week 1 to week 5 in the year 2022, the average daily visitors for all the art places compiled on weekdays and weekends are 24,042 and 19,901 respectively. This represented that the weekend visitors are 17% less than the weekday visitors.

Below are the top 10 places that attract visitors on weekends more than weekdays. Excluding the art places that have less than 10 visitors on average on weekends, these remaining art places generally are more focused on the creative or performing arts, such as STPI, TheatreWorks, and Esplanade – Theatre on the Bay. It is also interesting to note that more people visit Woodbridge Museum which is dedicated to the mental wellness hospital on weekends.

Below are the top 10 places that attract visitors on weekdays more than weekends. Similarly, if excluding the art places that have less than 10 visitors on average on weekdays, most of the remaining art places are either a government institution, such as Home Team Gallery, SG Mobility Gallery or a religious institution, such as Masjid Al-Abrar, Thian Hock Keng, Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church. Only the Singapore Musical Box Museum caters to the creative aspects.

2019 vs 2022 weekday

Only 3 art places have increased in the daily average visitors for the weekday period in year 2022 compared to the period in the year 2019, namely, the Command House, NEWater Visitor Centre and Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Heritage Museum. There is no common feature among these 3 art places. In this list below, most of the art places are heritage-related, such as Common House, Reflections at Bukit Chandu, Old Supreme Court, and the Empress Place Building. There are also 2 hospital-related art places, such as Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Heritage Museum and Kwong Wai Shui Hospital Heritage Gallery.

The review of the art places that have fewer visitors for weekdays in 2022 compared to 2019 is not meaningful, as more than 170 art places have seen a minimal 70% drop and about 100 art places have a minimal 90% drop.

2019 vs 2022 weekend

Only 4 art places have increased in the average number of visitors for the weekend in the year 2022 compared to the period in the year 2019, namely, the Command House, Fort Siloso, Republic of Singapore Air Force Museum and Nagore Durgha. Other than Nagore Durgha which is a religious place, the 3 other art places are war-related.

Similar to the above comparison on a weekday in 2022 vs 2019, the review of the art places that have fewer visitors for the weekend in 2022 compared to 2019 is not meaningful.

3.3.Time spent in art places in 2019 vs 2022

For the period in 2019, 89.4% of the visitors spent less than 15 minutes in the art places, while only 2.8% of visitors spent more than 30 minutes and the remaining 7.8% spent 15 to 30 minutes. For the period in 2022, 85.8% of the visitors spent less than 15 minutes, while 6.2% of the population spent more than 30 minutes and the remaining 8.0% spent between 15 to 30 minutes. It seems like a higher percentage of visitors in the period for 2022 compared to the period for 2019 spent more time on art places.

Fig. 4.

Time spent for 2019 vs 2022.

To have a more meaningful study, visitors who spent less than 15 minutes are considered to be ‘passers-by’ instead of genuine visitors. This normalized set of data further confirmed that more visitors in the period 2022 generally spent more time in art places compared to those for the period 2019.

Using the normalized data for the period for 2019, there are the top 5 places in which people spent more than 30 minutes are as the list below. Only 3 art places have more than 50% of the visitors who spent more than 30 minutes in the art places. This list shows that most of them are Museums except for the street arts along Jalan Kledek, which also has a stretch of eateries and pubs.

Using the normalized data for the period for 2022, there are top 10 places in which people spent more than 30 minutes are as the list below. The reason for using an expanded list compared to the period of 2019 is that 42 art places have more than 50% of visitors who spent more than 30 minutes. This list shows a diverse range of outcomes, suggesting that post-COVID, individuals are inclined to engage in a broader spectrum of interests or pursue more specialized activities.

The top 10 art places where a higher percentage of people spent more than 30 minutes for the period in 2022 compared to the period in 2019 are as the list below. Similar to the top 10 places in which people spent more than 30 minutes, this is a mixed bag of results, implying people do start to have a more varied interest post-Covid.

The top 10 art places that a less people spent more than 30 minutes for the period in 2022 compared to the period in 2019 are as the list below. In this list, it is observed that it comprises mostly Museums. This implies that in the post-COVID-19 period, visitors tend to spend less time on more ‘curated’ arts such as various museums.

4.1.Summary of major findings and recommendations

The mobile data footprint is collected by CITYDATA.ai. This data can show (1) how many visitors visited the art places each day and (2) the time each visitor spent on the art places data.

Generally, the number of visitors to art places based on the CITYDATA.ai collection has decreased by approximately 84% for the period in the year 2022 (week 1 to week 5, Jan–Feb) compared to the period in the year 2019 (week 36 to 40, Sep–Oct). This trend is consistent for most art places. Furthermore, the decrease in visitors is generally the same for both weekday and weekend visitors.

In general, there are fewer daily visitors at weekends compared to weekdays. For 2019, there are 22% fewer daily visitors for weekends compared to weekdays; For 2022, there are 17% fewer daily visitors for weekends compared to weekdays. There are 33 places out of the 199 art places for the year 2019 that see more daily visitors on weekends than weekdays. However, there are 72 places out of 199 art places for the year 2022 that see more daily visitors on weekends than weekdays.

In 2019, the art places that attract more weekend visitors compared to weekday visitors are more likely to be in family or couple settings. In 2022, there is a shift in preferences. Art places that are creative or performing arts attract more weekend visitors than weekday visitors.

In 2019, the art places that have more weekday visitors are for educational purposes. Again, there is a shift of preference. In 2022, the art places that attract more visitors are religious-related.

Although the number of visitors decreased for the period for 2022 compared to the period for 2019, the time spent on the art places generally increased. Excluding the ‘passerby visitors’ (spend less than 15 minutes), the visitors who spent more than 30 minutes increased to approximately 44% from 26%.