Businesses from hotels to retail shops, pubs, restaurants and spas are hoping to cash in on the arrival of an estimated 40,000 overseas visitors to watch Formula One’s first ever night race next Sunday.

Banks are rolling out the red carpet for wealthy clients flying in from around the world, booking hospitality suites at five—star hotels to wine and dine them, industry sources said.

Events ranging from high—priced invitation—only galas to free activities for the public have been lined up from September 20 to October 5.

One trackside hotel, the Pan Pacific, said the event is expected to boost occupancy rates by as much as 10 per cent.

Room rates during the race have increased by 20 per cent, it said.

Pan Pacific general manager Ivan Lee told AFP several suites offering a view of parts of the track are priced from 8,000 Singapore dollars (5,571 US) a night.

Other rooms start from 950 dollars.

Lee said the hotel will pamper its guests with "lavish champagne brunches, race—themed cocktails and a myriad of other culinary indulgences."

Public areas at the hotel will be decorated in an automotive theme.

Trackside shopping malls will hold autograph sessions by F1 drivers, offer hefty discounts and open late at night, but some retailers fear road closures could deter customers.

Retailers cited their bitter experience from Singapore’s hosting of the International Monetary Fund—World Bank meetings in 2006.

Sales fell short of robust projections after the public was shut off by tough security measures.

For the tourism industry, which saw a dip in visitor arrivals in June and July, the F1 event should be a boost.

"September is a relatively low period for visitor arrivals in Singapore... so certainly this event will fill up the hotel rooms," said Song Seng Wun, an economist with CIMB—GK Research.

Officials have estimated the event will generate 100 million Singapore dollars (70 million US) annually in revenues.

However, Singapore will also gain many "intangible" benefits from staging the high—octane race, analysts said, noting that F1 is probably the third most popular sports event for a country to host after football’s World Cup and the Olympic Games.

"In our view, the economic benefits of hosting such an event go further than just boosting tourism and filling up hotel rooms," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with credit ratings firm Standard and Poor’s.

"The arrival of the high—profile F1 race —— in this case the first ever night race —— guarantees to put Singapore annually in the world’s spotlight for seven years."

Singapore has the race contract for five years, with an option for another
two.

But while F1 is a high—glamour event, Song said the 100 million dollars in expected revenues add a relatively small value to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which stood at 243.2 billion Singapore dollars in 2007.

"A good weekend of pharmaceuticals output probably has much greater value—added to GDP than a weekend of F1," he told AFP.

Singapore is a key pharmaceuticals manufacturing centre.

However, hosting the race will help Singapore "in its quest to gain further international recognition as a city of excellence," Song said.

With each F1 race watched by an estimated 350 million people in 200 countries, the publicity will be enormous for Singapore, which is trying to build an image as a vibrant cosmopolitan city, analysts said.

The island—nation, a regional financial centre, is also building two multi—billion dollar casino developments as part of efforts to inject buzz into its image. — AFP/vm

Source: ChannelNewsAsia via Yahoo!News

Comments

Write comment
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.12

Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.

---