Travel to and from Singapore has seen a marked jump coinciding with the country’s 50th independence anniversary holiday on 7-10 August, according to the latest air reservation data from ForwardKeys, which monitors future travel patterns by analysing 14 million reservation transactions each day.
Europe leads the way in travel to Singapore, up 9.9% in total visitor nights for the same time last year.
Further analysis shows that connections through the Middle East hubs and Turkey are becoming increasingly important. Dubai is the clear leader for Europeans going to Singapore, while Doha, Abu Dhabi and Istanbul are all showing a doubling in flights compared to 2014.
Visits from the Middle East are actually down compared to 2014 but this is because Ramadan was 10 days earlier this year than last.
Olivier Jager, Co-founder and CEO, ForwardKeys, said, “The overall picture emerging from our data is that Singapore’s 50th anniversary celebrations are causing a holiday travel boom into and out of the country. Total visitor nights in Singapore projected from the international air reservations that have been made, are 3% up on the previous year, and then up 5.5% for the rest summer season, starting from the Anniversary weekend. Departure bookings are also showing an increase.”
The ForwardKeys analysis shows that China leads the way in total room nights from Asia to Singapore. In the European market, France and Italy lead the increase, due in part to improved connections.
The Singapore holiday has also boosted departures, peaking on 6 and 7 August. Departure bookings started growing significantly as early as March 2015.
