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Singapore is preparing to welcome visitors from across the world as it kicks off its annual 'Christmas in the Tropics' festivities.
With a season of celebrations including street parades, special deals and free open-top bus rides for visitors to enjoy Asia's longest running festive light-up; the vibrant city-state is sparing no effort to give 2009 a rousing send-off.
The glittering Christmas Light-Up sees the streets and malls of Orchard Road transformed into a magical wonderland, filled with twinkling lights, illuminated storefronts and a wonderful assortment of street performers.
With Orchard Road looking impressive after a multi-million makeover, this is now the place to pick up a wide range of gifts for friends and family at new malls as well as at the other time-tested favourites.
Explore Marina Bay with its dazzling collection of shopping and dining options in Marina Square, Raffles City Shopping Centre, Suntec City Mall and Millenia Walk. It promises to be a glitzy Christmas by the Bay as the area buzzes with colour.
Visitors can also enjoy a range of festive deals including a '2 + 2 promotion', where visitors receive 2 free tickets for every 2 tickets purchased to a host of tourist hotspots, including the Singapore Flyer, Sentosa Island and the National Orchid Garden.
"Singapore is an ideal year-end destination for Middle East travellers as we have arranged a wide range of festive year-end promotions for them to enjoy our city's festive excitement," said Jason Ong, area director, Middle East and Africa, Singapore Tourism Board. "With the year end celebrations and revelry, a vacation in Singapore is truly the perfect way to round off 2009!"
Singapore remains one of the leading destinations for Middle East travellers with a record number of travellers visiting this year.
Boosted by the '2009 Reasons to Enjoy Singapore' campaign as well as partnerships with Emirates Holidays, Singapore Airlines and the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board amongst others, Singapore welcomed 52,525 visitors from the Middle East from January to June - a six per cent increase over last year's figures.
Bahrain, UAE, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the City-State's leading visitor markets from the region.
"With new attractions like the 9km long Southern Ridges nature walk and concerts by top international artistes like Lady Gaga, Singapore constantly provides our new and returning regional guests with fresh and unique experiences," Mr Ong added.
September also saw a host of events that proved to be a major draw for GCC travellers.
Singapore celebrated its rich Muslim roots with a range of Ramadan festivities including night markets and cultural dances along its ethnic Malay enclaves.
