MALAYSIA: With many hotels in Singapore reaching capacity in the next few days as the Singapore Grand Prix approaches, accommodations in the Johor Bahru area are ready to catch the spillover.
This year’s Formula 1 event will take place from Sept 20 to 22. The high-profile night race is the first street circuit in Asia specially designed for Formula 1 races.
Since the Singapore Grand Prix began in 2008, it has brought over half a million visitors to Singapore and earned around S$2 billion in incremental tourism receipts, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
This week, however, visitors to the city-state may have a hard time getting a room. Hotels and other accommodations will be fuller and more expensive, with some room rates going at thrice the price.
Alternatively, F1 fans can book a room at Johor Bahru instead. The distance from JB to the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the venue of the Singapore Grand Prix, is, after all, less than 33 km, a ride of just over one hour via Bukit Timah Expy and the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).
Ivan Teo, the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Johor chapter chairman, is quoted in Malay Mail as saying that while JB accommodations for Singapore visitors and foreign tour groups are already pretty full on weekends, he expects they’ll be even fuller during the F1 weekend.
“Visitors booked for the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix weekend in Singapore will be an addition to the regular groups that stay in hotels in the state over the weekends,” he said.
“So, there will be an impact, and there is a high expectation that bookings for Johor Baru hotels during that time will be sold out.”
He also told Malay Mail that while he anticipated that some Singapore Grand Prix guests would opt to stay in JB, he assured them that prices would surge there in the same way they do in Singapore.
Mr Teo added that hotels are spread out throughout JB, with accommodations available well outside the city centre.
He believes that Holiday Inn, Opero Southkey, St Giles Southkey, DoubleTree by Hilton and Amari, all of which are in a central location in JB, will have occupancy next weekend of over 90 per cent.
However, “other Johor Baru-based hotels will have about 80 per cent occupancy rates, while the older hotels will be lower due to age,” he added.
One hotel close to the Causeway, Renaissance Johor Baru, told Malay Mail that it already has over 70 per cent occupancy for the weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix. /TISG
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