Over $1.8 Million Booked on First Day of Redemption for the SingapoRediscovers Vouchers

Bored at home because of Covid-19? You and many other Singaporeans out there feel the same way too, which is why this happened.

Overwhelming Redemptions

In case you’ve forgotten, yesterday (1 December) was the first day of redemptions for the SingapoRediscovers vouchers.

It was reported that more than 11,900 vouchers were redeemed as of 4:30pm, totalling up to $1.86 million in redemptions and payments.

Now, do note that the $1.86 million don’t comprise just the vouchers, because even if everyone uses the vouchers in full, that would only be $1.19 million – this means a lot of real cash was spent, too.

Singaporeans can book hotels, tickets for attractions and tours on these platforms.

STB was satisfied with the result, as there was a mix across the three different industries.

This was the total across all five eligible booking platforms to redeem the vouchers on, which includes: Changi Recommends, GlobalTix, Klook, Traveloka and Trip.com.

In fact, the response was so overwhelming that the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also saw 4,000 Singaporeans heading down to 53 community centres (CCs) just to learn more about these vouchers.

No Rush

To encourage more Singaporeans to support local tourism, the SingapoRediscover vouchers were given to all Singaporeans aged 18 and above as of 2020.

The $100 vouchers can be accessed digitally via Singpass, and can only be redeemed on the five platforms. If you’re a parent, grandparent or legal guardian to a minor, you’ll also be eligible to purchase up to six youth tickets with a subsidy of $10 each.

Used your vouchers? Your balance can be found here.

If you have any other enquiries, you may head down to your nearest CCs or visit this website.

If you have yet to use your vouchers, don’t worry: they are valid until 30 June 2021.

Currently, there are more than 280 products available for booking, so you have a wide variety to choose from. Instead of being too kiasu, perhaps you can take your time to plan a day out with your family to use your vouchers before June next year.

None of the current products attracts you? You’ll be pleased to know that STB will be rolling out more products within the next seven months. They will continue to work with the tourism industry to create more attractive deals that are worth your money.

Biggest Challenge

According to STB, this is their biggest challenge since the 2003 SARS outbreak. Tourism in Singapore has taken a dip since the outbreak of Covid-19, especially in the first quarter of 2020.

In the first quarter, Tourism Receipts (TR) totalled up to $4 billion, but it was a drop in 39 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019. From January to March, there was also a decline of 43.2 percent in the number of International Visitor Arrivals (IVA). Due to Covid-19, there was also a sharp decline in international visitors from China, which accounts for 20 percent of visitors.

Tourism might seem like a small sector in Singapore, but that is not the case.

International tourism accounted for 4.1 percent of Singapore’s economy in 2017. This accounted for $17.1 billion. It is also predicted to rise to 4.4 percent by 2028.

So go ahead and use those vouchers to save more businesses!

Featured Image: Have a nice day Photo / Shutterstock.com