ENCOURAGED by a weakening Australian dollar, more Singaporeans have made Australia their go-to destination in recent months.
Some of Singapore’s biggest outbound specialists have reported an uptick in bookings for holidays Down Under.
CTC Travel’s vice president of marketing and PR, Sylvia Tan, said the company has observed an increase of approximately 20 per cent in bookings, while Alicia Seah, director of marketing communications, Dynasty Travel, noted a 20-25 per cent rise in “leisure and business travellers during the winter months of May to July 2015”.
“Over the last two weeks, we have observed a rise in last-minute bookings to Australia, departing in end July and August,” said Jane Chang, assistant manager of marketing communications with Chan Brothers Travel.
The agency saw a five to 10 per cent year-on-year increase in bookings for Australia during the recent June school holidays.
Forward bookings for the year-end holidays are expected to shine too.
“This (fall in value of the Australian dollar) will definitely push some forward bookings for the second half of 2015 and the upward trend will continue to surge with greater demand from travellers,” Seah added.
The Australian dollar has fallen about eight per cent against the Singapore dollar since the start of the year and about 17 per cent since July 2015.
By Samuel Ng
