Singapore’s ‘Golden Week’ courts China tourists as retail falls

SINGAPORE (Sept 30): Singapore now has its own shopping version of Golden Week that could help woo Chinese tourists traveling abroad during a week-long national holiday in China.

Brands from Estee Lauder to Nike to Samsonite are offering discounts in the city-state starting Friday, coinciding with China’s National Day public holidays. The promotions are aimed at grabbing a slice of the more than half a billion Chinese who are expected to travel domestically and overseas for the annual holiday that starts Oct 1.

Singapore is trying to revive its flagging retail industry, where sales excluding motor vehicles have fallen in ten of the past 12 months. During the promotion period, malls such as those owned by Southeast Asia’s biggest developer CapitaLand, and Hong Kong’s Sun Hung Kai Properties will offer lucky draws and free limousine rides to users of UnionPay, China’s card-payment equivalent of Visa and MasterCard.

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