© dantekgeek

The second annual Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX) in Singapore travel reflects the growing position of the city-state as a high end fashion capital of Asia.

AFX is an umbrella platform incorporating a number of smaller targeted events, such as the high-end showcase Audi Fashion Festival and the talent hunt Star Creation. AFX is looking to China as a major driver of talent and consumption in the coming years, due to its expanding middle class. Fashion and luxury brands are trying to tap the growing China market, and this is not only true of global brands. AFX will feature prominent Chinese designers at Blueprint, a trade show that links Asian designers with international buyers. It will highlight the other-worldly styles of Zhang Chi, a native of Beijing who studied at Milan's Instituto Marangoni. Chinese designers are producing styles that are a fashion fusion of foreign and Chinese tastes.

© S Baker

Singapore hotels have gone the environment friendly way. The Singapore Hotel Association (SHA) and National Environment Agency (NEA) have jointly come up with a program to help Singapore hotels reduce their waste and help in their waste management.
These two bodies have jointly come with a 3R program, referred to as Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle for waste recycle and management. It has been found that Singapore hotels produce about 60,000 tons of solid waste per year and hardly any of it is recycled. They are going to make the Singapore hotels set up a system to reduce the waste. According to Mr. Andrew Tan, Chief Executive Officer of NEA, this will help Singapore hotels to share knowledge on waste management. 35% of SHA hotels have signed up for it.
Twenty one Singapore hotels will be given the Singapore Green Hotel Award 2011 for their efforts in waste management and energy conservation.

© pelican

The Singapore Zoo is operated by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and is a self-funded organization. All the profit and revenue earned from the Zoo is injected back into the care of the animals and exhibits, as well as conservation efforts and skills upgrading of employees. When you visit Singapore Zoo, a portion your entrance fee is also donated to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund. This fund supports the conservation of endangered native wildlife, as well as for capacity building education and awareness programs on key species and conservation issues in the Southeast Asian region.

In addition to offering recreation for families and tourists, the Zoo mission is to connect people with wildlife to inspire nature conservation and to educate people on the human effect on living things and habitats. In order to run a successful social enterprise with such a mission, it is critical that the Zoo be financially independent.