Going my way

INCREASINGLY savvy travellers looking for one-of-a-kind experiences have been able to find them by trawling the Internet or checking out travel websites. It's also spawned fertile ground for enterprising individuals to offer specialised travel services that cut through the clutter of the Web and zero in on what people want, ie a customised itinerary that takes into account all their needs.

Bespoke businesses and websites offering everything from short-term stays in the homes of locals to designer holidays have proliferated in the West, but Singapore is fast catching up. A quick search online reveals that there are at least 10 such businesses based here, with four of them founded in the past year.

Simon Cameron is the founder and managing director of Lightfoot Travel (www.lightfoottravel.com), founded in 2009, which specialises in luxury customised holidays. Mr Cameron says sales for the third quarter of 2013 have increased almost 70 per cent year on year, boosted by their heavy investment in a digital strategy.