This year’s Formula One (F1) Singapore Grand Prix is set to see its biggest turnout since its first night race back in 2008,
with flight bookings up 305% since the start of 2022.
With the majority of Covid restrictions now lifted,
visitor arrivals in Singapore rose for the sixth consecutive month in July to 726,601, up from 543,733 in June, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.
Bookings have bounced back from 13% to 50% of 2019 levels, demonstrating strong interest in travel to the Lion City.
In the leadup to the F1, Oceania, primarily Australia, has shown the greatest interest in Singapore travel,
up 17% in 2022 versus 2019.
Other notable regions with market share increases compared to 2019 volumes include South Asia (+5%),
Western Europe (+3%), Middle East (+1%), with Sojern anticipating that neighbouring regions such as South-east Asia and East Asia will also increase closer to the F1 date.
Australia retains its position as Singapore’s top origin country in 2022,
while increasing its market share at the same time (+18% from 18% in 2019 vs 36% in 2022).
Other notable countries moving up in 2022 are India (+6% from 4% in 2019 vs 10% in 2022),
the Philippines (+5% in 2022), and Indonesia (-3% from 7% in 2019 vs to 4% in 2022),
with new countries for 2022 including the UK and South Korea in sixth and 10th places respectively.
The US (8%) and Thailand (6%) remain in the top five while China and Japan drop out of the top 10 in 2022,
due to ongoing inbound and outbound travel restrictions in both countries.
Flight booking popularity is moving towards the middle of the week, peaking on Thursday,
while hotel booking popularity is moving towards the weekend on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.