**Photo: Wang Xiaoyu).
Text: Wang Xiaoyu.
Following the two-way visa exemption between Malaysia and China, its neighbor Singapore is also expected to achieve a 30-day visa exemption policy with China.
At the meeting of the Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation between Singapore and China held on December 7, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong revealed that the two sides will strengthen people-to-people exchanges between the two countries through a 30-day visa waiver arrangement.
After the news was released, the search for travel in Singapore became very popular**. According to Tongcheng Travel data, as of 2 p.m. on the same day, Singapore's tourism attention was 18% higher than that of the same period the day before**18%, among which Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang and other provinces and cities paid the most attention to Singapore-related tourism information.
*According to an index released by travel service provider Qunar.com, Singapore's search index on December 7 increased fourfold compared to the previous week. On the Qunar platform, the direct flight ticket from Beijing to Singapore in December is 1,200 yuan, Shanghai-Singapore is 950 yuan, Hangzhou-Singapore is 790 yuan, Guangzhou-Singapore is 860 yuan, and Xiamen-Singapore is 1,110 yuan. At the same time, searches for Universal Studios Singapore tickets on Qunar increased by 40% month-on-month.
Xiao Peng, a researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute, analyzed that Malaysia previously announced visa-free access to China, and from the perspective of Qunar holiday orders, the growth of tourists in Malaysia alone is not obvious. Once Singapore is visa-free, it can increase the playability of this route, extending the three-day tour from Malaysia to a 5-6 day tour between Singapore and Malaysia, and it is more cost-effective for tourists to travel abroad in a single trip. Singapore and Malaysia are located in the tropics and are expected to become popular destinations for Chinese New Year.
In fact, the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists to travel to Singapore has already begun to appear, according to a data released by the local **, a digital marketing technology company China trading desk conducted a survey of 10,000 Chinese residents, and the results show that nearly one in six people choose Singapore as the place they will visit.
Andrew Phua, executive director of the Singapore Tourism Board, recently revealed that from January to October 2023, Singapore received 1.13 million tourists from China. In recent months, from July to October, travel demand has steadily picked up, with revenues reaching 48%-59% of the same period in 2019.
Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, analyzed that the arrival of the China-Singapore mutual visa exemption policy will be another important positive for the inbound and outbound travel market. Singapore has always been an important business and tourist destination for Chinese citizens, and the mutual visa waiver policy will further stimulate the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists to travel to Singapore. After Singapore's visa-free policy for Chinese citizens is officially implemented, it will connect with Malaysia and Thailand to form a new Malaysia-Thailand visa-free ** line, which is also a traditional popular route for Chinese residents to travel abroad, and it is expected that Chinese citizens will travel to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in 2024. At present, many cities in China have opened direct flights to Singapore, and Singapore's language environment is also relatively friendly to Chinese tourists, and in 2023, Singapore will rank among the top five popular outbound travel destinations for Chinese tourists.
In order to attract Chinese tourists, Singapore has also stepped up its efforts in tourism marketing and transportation. In October this year, Tongcheng Travel and the Singapore Tourism Board jointly launched the "Global Destination Program" series of activities in Singapore. During the event, Tongcheng Travel will select multiple batches of Singapore travel special routes for users, and users can also participate in special activities, and can also draw up to 500 yuan round-trip air ticket coupons, as well as up to 600 yuan off for consecutive stays. The offer will be valid until 31 December. In addition, the Tongcheng Travel platform selects Singapore's round-trip air tickets, hotels, attractions and other high-quality resources to create five special travel products: Flying Lion City, Flavor Lion City, Cute Lion City, Literary Lion City, and Hi Lion City, to meet the different travel needs of tourists.
Editor: Yu Yujin.