Singapore

AS this year's National Day Parade (NDP) returns to The Float@Marina Bay, a departure from its festivities at the National Stadium last year, hotels in the city area are experiencing a surge in booking rates for the Aug 9 public holiday period, and some of them are also charging a higher premium for rooms compared to the previous year.

Having hosted Singapore's birthday bash seven times since 2007, The Float@Marina Bay remains a perennially popular choice for the NDP among the public, despite its status as an interim site. Plans to build the floating platform as a temporary venue for the NDP until the new National Stadium was ready were announced by the government in 2005. Last year witnessed the return of the NDP to the National Stadium for the first time in 10 years, last held at the former National Stadium in 2006.