Orchard Road ‘well on the road’ to return to pre-pandemic tourism levels, hopefully by 2023: ORBA
SINGAPORE’S prime shopping belt Orchard Road is “well on the road” to returning to pre-pandemic levels of tourism and will hopefully do so by 2023, said Orchard Road Business Association (Orba) chairman Mark Shaw.
“With the pandemic, we obviously lost a lot of the tourist traffic. However, that has been coming back in quite a steady fashion,” he said, speaking at a media conference to unveil this year’s annual Christmas light-up along Orchard Road.
This year’s Christmas On A Great Street light-up returns with full-scale programming and new augmented reality (AR) experiences, marking the first time since the onset of the pandemic that festivities will take place in-person and be attended by both locals and tourists.
With the easing of restrictions in Singapore, Shaw expects footfall at this year’s event to exceed that of 2021, leading to “more corresponding spend” during the festive season.
“We’ve already seen a lot more visitors on Orchard Road over the last few months, so I would think that sales have improved. It looks like they will (continue to) improve towards Christmas and the festive seasons,” he said.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Statistics, Singapore’s retail sales went up by 13 per cent year on year in August, extending the 13.9 per cent increase of July. But on a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales were down 1.3 per cent, reversing a 0.7 per cent increase in the previous month.
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The opening of 11 stations – including Orchard Boulevard – on the Thomson East-Coast Line on Nov 13 will also hopefully draw more traffic to Orchard Road, Shaw said.
Shaw noted that Orchard Road had always seen a 50:50 mix of locals and tourists during pre-pandemic times – a ratio that he hopes to achieve again as tourism recovers further. Last year’s Christmas light-up was mostly driven by domestic demand, he added, without revealing visitorship numbers for the event.
This year’s Christmas light-up along Orchard Road will feature more tech-driven and experiential elements. A new lighting display of 104 trees, lit up by energy-saving LED white lights, will be on show, while interactive set pieces will make a comeback.
The Great Christmas Village will also return after a two-year hiatus, with amusement rides, pop-up activations from brands such as Gucci Beauty and Braun Buffel, live music performances, and food and beverage offerings. Visitors can also register for art workshops on alcohol ink painting, tapestry weaving, clay modelling and crafting.
Shaw declined to reveal the budget allocated for this year’s decorations, except that it was bigger. Hitachi Asia remains the event’s main sponsor for the 32nd year.
Visitors can also enjoy new AR experiences, including the first dual-facade outdoor projection show on Orchard Road, which will see both facades of the Mandarin Gallery building carry a multimedia 3D projection with AR features.
Using the PopAR Live app on their mobile phones, visitors can view the new 3D and AR features of the nightly projection show. They can also scan AR visuals located on 27 glass panels along the stretch of Orchard Road between Ion Orchard and Mandarin Gallery.
The centrepiece of the light-up is the main arch located at the junction of Orchard Road and Scotts Road, featuring Christmas trees decorated with reindeer and baubles on each side of the road. The lighting displays will be up from Nov 12 to Jan 2, 2023.
“Over the course of the past year, we’ve seen many changes taking place on Orchard Road as we move closer to creating a vision of a premier lifestyle destination,” Shaw said.
He highlighted the opening of unique concept stores such as the Adidas brand centre and home-grown furniture brand Castlery’s flagship store; this was on top of hospitality offerings including Voco Orchard Singapore hotel and Hilton Singapore Orchard, both of which opened in January.
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