Singapore GP, organiser of the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2022, has lined up a power-packed race weekend to keep spectators engaged within the Circuit Park.
Big names in this year’s programme include Black Eyed Peas, The Kid LAROI, TLC, Suede, Marshmello, Westlife, and Green Day, along with a mix of local and international artists from all over the world who will deliver a total of 100 hours of entertainment. Some 92 performances across nine stages, 79 roving acts and an array of art installations and activities are also part of the line-up.
Singapore’s Formula 1 ticket holders will enjoy on-track action, activities and performances, as well as food and beverage
International acts like Swedish-Gambian singer/songwriter Seinabo Sey, Malaysian reggae band Salammusik, Israeli electronic music project Garden City Movement, Singaporean singer/songwriter INCH, and more, will be featured across the three-day weekend race.
Singapore GP will also be shining the spotlight on local artists including 8EyedSpud, Adeline Loo of It Takes Balls, HAFI, Koh Dawn, Lee Wei Lieh of Very Small Exhibition, and Paper Carpenter. They will display their works at curated experiential zones within the Circuit Park. These zones offer a host of interactive activities, entertainment as well as food and beverage.
All tickets to the Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2022 will allow fans to enjoy on-track action as well as activities and performances in Zone 4 of the Circuit Park – valid tickets will be required to access the relevant zone for each day.
Japan, Singapore and South Korea possess the most powerful passports in the world, according to the latest results from the Henley Passport Index, which is based on exclusive and official data from IATA.
Japan holds the number one spot on the index, with a record-high visa-free or visa-on-arrival score of 193, while Singapore and South Korea come in joint-second place, with a score of 192.
The most powerful passports in the world are Japan, Singapore and South Korea according to Henley Passport Index
Despite the unmatched and unprecedented worldwide access afforded to the citizens of these three nations over the index’s 17-year history, international passenger demand in the Asia-Pacific region has only reached 17 per cent of pre-Covid levels, according to IATA’s latest statistics, having hovered below 10 per cent for most of the past two years.
This figure is far behind the global trend where markets in Europe and North America have recovered to around 60 per cent of pre-crisis travel mobility levels.
EU member states dominate the rest of the top ten spots on the latest ranking, with Germany and Spain in joint-third place, with access to 190 destinations visa-free.
Finland, Italy, and Luxembourg follow closely behind in joint-fourth place with 189 destinations; while Denmark, Netherlands, and Sweden share fifth place with visa-free access to 188 destinations worldwide.
Both the UK and US have dropped down a rank, to sixth and seventh position, respectively.
The UAE passport, which now sits at 15th place on the ranking, with a visa-free or visa-on-arrival score of 176, has been the biggest climber on the index over the past decade. In 2012, it sat at 64th place on the rankings, with a score of just 106.
According to the latest Henley Private Wealth Migration Dashboard, the UAE has also become the focus of intense interest among affluent investors and is expected to see the highest net influx of HNWIs globally in 2022, with a forecast net increase of 4,000 – a dramatic increase of 208 per cent versus 2019’s net inflow of 1,300 and one of its largest on record.
Exclusive research conducted by Henley & Partners reveals that top-ranking passports have almost regained pre-pandemic levels of access. By comparing the current level of travel freedom with the most severe Covid-related restrictions imposed over the past few years, results show that UK and US passport holders now have unrestricted access to 158 destinations around the world – as opposed to just 74 and 56 destinations, respectively, at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Japanese passport holders enjoy unrestricted access to 161 destinations, as opposed to only 76 in 2020.
The study also determined a strong correlation between a nation’s passport power and its peacefulness.
Henley & Partners noted that all of the nations occupying the top 10 spots on the Henley Passport Index can also be found in the Global Peace Index’s top 10 ranking. Likewise, for the bottom ranking nations.
South Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) has designated the wearing of hanbok, a traditional Korean outfit, and the cultural conduct associated with it, as a national intangible cultural heritage.
Worn during rituals, ceremonies and recreational events, the hanbok embodies South Korean identity and values, while hanbok lifestyle refers to a series of cultural practices – ranging from making the clothes and wearing them to the specific etiquette for its use.
Dressing up in hanbok while touring heritage locations around South Korea is a popular activity among tourists
Ancient relics and records, dating back to 57BC, show people on the Korean Peninsula had already been wearing hanbok.
CHA said in a release: “(Hanbok) has been passed down through generations in the country for such a long period; there are historical relics and documents proving this; studies of the attire abound in a variety of fields including its history, aesthetics, design, technique, marketing and education; the clothes are still worn in important family and ritual events; and traditional knowledge on hanbok lifestyle has lived on.”
India-based travel specialist, A Travel Quest, is rolling out a series of private transformational journeys for small groups, beginning with a gastronomy trip to Peru and an adventure excursion to the Arctic.
The curated journeys will centred around five key focus areas – Art & Culture, Wildlife, Gastronomy, Adventure and Offbeat. Each pillar will offer two or three fixed departures every year led by an expert, influencer, or celebrity in that space. Travellers can choose to join these curated journeys, which take in 10 to 12 participants, or request for a customised option.
Shah: today’s luxury consumers are seeking out transcending experiences
For a start, the series in 2022 to 2023 will feature a 10-night Peru with Chef Prateek Sadhu journey and a seven-night Arctic Expedition – Lofoten & Svalbard Islands programme.
Scheduled from November 2 to 12, 2022, the Peru with Chef Prateek Sadhu journey will take travellers through the culinary wonders of Peru, calling at destinations such as Lima, Paracas and Sacred Valley, and Cusco.
The Arctic Expedition – Lofoten & Svalbard Islands will comprise two departures – March 15 to 22 and April 7 to 14, 2023. The intimate polar expedition will dive into the untouched Arctic wilderness of Svalbard and Lofoten, and cross the Arctic Ocean to the last few islands before the North Pole.
Pritish Shah, founder and CEO of A Travel Quest, said: “The experience economy has boomed over the recent years and today’s luxury consumers are seeking out transcending experiences.”
Besides these intimate group trips, the company will launch a 2023 series built upon various upcoming festivals and events.
Gold Coast and wider Queensland will come under the spotlight when South Korea’s new reality TV series, Bucket List Travel to Australia, goes on air later this year.
Produced by Seoul Broadcast System, the show will follow five South Korean celebrities as they explore the destination’s offerings, from Gold Coast’s 52km of beaches and Wonder Reef to World Heritage-listed rainforest, native wildlife, and other unique tourism experiences.
Gold Coast and wider Queensland will be in the spotlight on South Korea’s new reality TV series, Bucket List Travel to Australia; Wheel of Surfers Paradise pictured
Bucket List Travel to Australia will air in a prime-time slot in South Korea later this year and is expected to generate more than US$40 million in publicity to profile Queensland destinations.
Destination Gold Coast CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said: “Pre-Covid, South Korea was our sixth largest market for international holiday visitors and we saw steady loads when Jetstar commenced direct services between Seoul and Gold Coast.
“We know South Koreans have an affinity with nature, blue skies, and a relaxed lifestyle which are all attributes of a Gold Coast holiday.”
She commented that after two years of border closures, Bucket List Travel to Australia will highlight the Sunshine State’s attractions and “keep the Gold Coast top-of-mind for future travel considerations”.
In 2019, around 34,000 Koreans visited the Gold Coast, and spent almost 280,000 nights in the destination.
Prior to securing the series, Destination Gold Coast – together with Tourism and Events Queensland, Brisbane Economic Development Agency and Tourism Tropical North Queensland – had recently organised a five-day tourism mission in South Korea and Japan, meeting with airlines and trade partners to reacquaint them with the Gold Coast.
As consumers around the world plan a summer of revenge travel in the wake of easing restrictions, Trip.com data reflects the global travel recovery trend with data from its booking sites across Europe and Asia and the results showing the rise of summer holiday bookings as travellers become more confident in a post-pandemic world.
Wednesdays are the most popular days For summer 2022, the data shows Tuesday through Thursday are the peak days for browsing flights and hotels, with Wednesday as the most popular day overall for flight searches, and Saturday being the quietest.
Summer holiday bookings in Europe and Asia are on the rise as travellers become more confident in a post-pandemic world
From June to September, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the UK markets saw July 1 as the most popular day for flight departures. It was also the most popular hotel check-in date that users searched for on Trip.com’s sites in the UK and Thailand.
Hotel booking window extended by up to a week During the pandemic, the booking window for hotel stays had fallen from 20.3 days (June 2019 data) to 6.1 days in Asia. Flights saw a similar trend, with the booking window on Trip.com’s European sites falling from 22.2 (in 2019) to 13.4 days in June 2021.
For 2022, Trip.com’s data signals a return to pre-pandemic trends, with booking windows once again rising. In Europe, the window for hotel reservations in June 2022 matched pre-Covid levels at 14.2 days; booking windows for flights extended to 14.2 days from 6.4 days of June 2021. Similar trends are evident across Asia, with booking windows for flights rising to 16.4 days in June 2022 from 6.1 days in June 2020.
However, booking windows still remain shorter than pre-pandemic in the region, as restrictions remain across many nations and districts.
City-centric European summer holidays high on the agenda Airlines and hotel chains have reported bookings and occupancy levels rising to pre-pandemic numbers for the first time this spring, with Trip.com’s European sites seeing an average monthly growth in traffic of around 10% between April and July, further underlining the increased demand for summer getaways.
While many choose beach holidays over city breaks this year, data shows that city-centric summer holidays are still high on the agenda for Europeans wanting to visit attractions, culture, food and new experiences in Europe’s most enticing cities.
Trip.com’s European data also reflects the vast increase in short-haul travel demand for June 1 to 31 August 2022 versus the same period in 2021, and that short-haul trips are 27 times more popular than longhaul and proves that most travellers still prefer to stay closer to home.
Customers book longer trips post-pandemic European customers travelled for longer during 2020 than they did previously, with the average trip length in June 2019 being 6.2 days, rising to 8.8 days in 2020 and back down to 6.6 days in June 2022.
Asian travellers, on the other hand, are travelling for an average of 7.6 days in 2022, an increase on the average of 6.6 days in June 2019, but a decrease on 2021’s average of 8.7 days.
Local travel rebounds well in Asia In Asia, countries and regions that have relaxed their travel restrictions have seen an impressive market performance, particularly those in South-east Asia. Overall in the APAC region, bookings increased by 21% in May and by a further 7.8% in June.
The most popular destination among APAC users was Singapore, where it saw a 42% year-on-year increase in hotel bookings in June.
Thailand saw a slight dip in April but following the Songkran Festival, overall bookings have tripled when compared to June 2021, with a 17% rise in bookings compared to May 2022.
While Thailand continues to attract customers from the UK and Asia-Pacific, the country’s recovery has mainly been driven by domestic travel, with domestic flights in June increasing 2.6 times year-on-year.
Japan and South Korea saw sharp growth in 2Q2022, with South Korean outbound flights increasing by 16 times year-on-year and June outbound flight bookings up 31% compared to May. South Korea eased travel restrictions in early June, so an upward trajectory in bookings is expected.
Japan also eased its border restrictions in June, with a large spike in bookings following the news. In May, flight searches to Japan on Trip.com’s global sites were 7.5 times as popular when compared to the same period in 2021.
ZoukOut dance festival will emerge from its three-year hiatus for a December comeback at Singapore’s Siloso Beach Sentosa, this time partnering with Coachella producers AEG to elevate the event’s experience.
Positioned as Asia’s only dusk-to-dawn dance festival, ZoukOut 2022 will be themed as Futuristic City of Dreams and “take party-goers on a journey that transcends time into a future of make-believe”.
ZoukOut dance festival returns this December
Organisers said the event on December 2 and 3 will bring in leading local, regional and global acts across a festival ground with a food village, experience booths, custom installations, roving acts and spectacular stage designs.
Launched in 2000, ZoukOut was named twice by the Singapore Tourism Board as the Best Leisure Event Experience in the city-state.
ZoukOut’s last edition in 2018 attracted 20,000 people in attendance.
Ticket prices and programme details have yet to be released at press time.
Aki Hong Kong – MGallery, Hong Kong
Located in Wanchai, Hong Kong, AKI Hong Kong – MGallery boasts 173 rooms, including 20 signature Japanese-style tatami rooms.
A 10-minute walk from the shopping district of Causeway Bay and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, other nearby accessible landmarks are the Hong Kong Arts Centre, Tamar Park, Wanchai Heritage Trail, and F&B outlets of Lockhart Road.
Aside from the TANGRAM restaurant and Uncle Ming’s Whiskey Bar, the hotel also features a petite garden, co-working space, gym, and lobby lounge.
Hotel staff can arrange entrance to the popular horseracing event in Happy Valley for guests to experience the spirited and social atmosphere of the racecourse.
Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre
Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre, Australia
Hotel Indigo Brisbane City Centre in the riverside suburb of North Quay offers guests a retreat with local neighbourhood experiences.
The 212-key hotel features Japanese restaurant Izakaya Publico; 1603, a contemporary speakeasy-inspired bar; and Tuk Nook for that cup of java and pastries.
Radisson Resort Goa Baga
Radisson Resort Goa Baga, India
Radisson Resort Goa Baga sits in the heart of North Goa, just 800m from Baga Beach and 39km from Dabolim Airport.
Attractions within proximity include the Chapora Fort, Fort Aguada, Saturday Night Market, nightclubs, and beaches like Baga and Calangute.
Accommodation choices range from superior and premium rooms to suites with pool and terrace. The hotel also offers 24/7 in-room dining, Wi-Fi, restaurant, bar, swimming pool, fitness centre, spa, and over 185m² of indoor event space.
Agoda’s ranking of top 15 global summer destinations among various source market regions has placed the Thai capital city of Bangkok in prime positions.
Bangkok takes lead position among Asia-Pacific customers, and is the top Asia-Pacific destination for both US and UK travellers.
Bangkok takes lead position among Asia-Pacific customers, and is the top Asia-Pacific destination for both US and UK travellers
In a press statement, Agoda said: “With travel rules almost entirely relaxed, the bustling Thailand capital has embraced the holiday season offering nightlife, beaches, temples, culture, and cuisine.”
Other favourite destinations among Asia-Pacific customers include South Korea’s Jeju Island and Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur in second and third positions. Even with tight entry controls, Japan’s Tokyo takes fourth place in the ranking.
The Philippines’ Manila (fifth), Tokyo (eighth) and South Korea’s Seoul (10th) are the other Asia-Pacific destinations to make it to the North American summer destination top 10 hit list.
Among European travellers, Indonesia’s Bali (eighth) and Thailand’s Pattaya (ninth) are favourites in this region.
The rankings are based on Agoda booking data collected from May to August 2022.
Omri Morgenshtern, CEO, Agoda, said: “Worldwide, we are seeing international travel coming back this year as travel restrictions have eased, proving people have been looking forward to travelling internationally again for the past two years. Travellers are making the most of the holidays and are keen to visit both domestic and international destinations in Asia.”
Silversea Cruises has purchased luxury cruise ship Crystal Endeavor and will rename her Silver Endeavour when she joins the Royal Caribbean Group subsidiary officially in late July 2022.
The new Silver Endeavour was acquired at US$275 million and fully financed through a 15-year unsecured term loan.
Crystal Endeavor has been acquired by Silversea and will be renamed Silver Endeavour
The fifth expedition ship in Silversea’s fleet of 11, the vessel is scheduled to begin service in winter 2022/2023, with her inaugural season in Antarctica starting November this year.
“With (Silver) Endeavour, we are seeking to grow our world-class fleet to meet the exceptional demand for ultra-luxury expedition cruising, while also enhancing our profitability profile and affirming Silversea’s position as the industry’s leading ultra-luxury and expedition cruise line,” said Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean Group.
The ship is equipped to operate all of Silversea’s current expedition itineraries and is designed to take travellers to remote destinations, including both polar regions.
Royal Caribbean Group will protect the deposits of guests who were originally booked on Crystal Endeavor and make a new booking on one of its brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises.
If Crystal Endeavor guests do not receive their deposits back from the original sources, Royal Caribbean Group will refund any amount paid on their new booking up to the amount of their lost deposits from Crystal.
