More booking tours on National Day long weekend: Tour agencies

SINGAPORE — Following the announcement of a long National Day weekend from Aug 7 to 10, tour agencies said they are seeing a spike in bookings.

According to some agencies, there has been a 30 per cent increase in tour bookings for the extended National Day weekend, with some saying trips to nearby countries such as Thailand and Hong Kong are almost fully booked.

Numbers are expected to increase further, said the agencies, and companies have also approached the agencies for corporate bookings to reward staff.

BOOKINGS IN LOCAL HOTELS UP

However, not all are heading overseas, with local hotels reporting an increase in bookings for the weekend as well. Some hotels said that about 90 per cent of their rooms with a view of the parade have already been reserved, while others have introduced special packages to celebrate the nation’s Golden Jubilee.

“If they have done a three-day booking, we’re obviously going to contact them again and offer the package over the four days because it is not fair that they didn’t know, so this is the government generosity of adding an extra day, which is terrific,” said Mr Antoine Chahwan, Regional Vice President, Four Seasons Hotel. “To celebrate Singapore’s 50, I’m sure a lot of people will stay in Singapore to be part of these great celebrations.”

Previously, Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob urged Singaporeans to remain in the country during the long weekend to celebrate the nation’s 50th birthday instead of travelling overseas. CHANNEL NEWSASIA