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From Asian Wall Street Journal
15th December 1999
AWSJ: Singapore Aims to Boost Tourism By Canceling an Airport Tax By ZACH COLEMAN Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
SINGAPORE HAS JOINED the competition to get airport transit passengers to have a look around town.
As of Dec. 1, Singapore is no longer collecting a 15 Singapore dollars (US$8.93) departure tax from passengers flying out of Changi Airport within 24 hours of arrival. Previously, travelers were exempt from the tax only if they stayed in areas of the airport restricted to transit passengers. The goal of the change is to encourage tourism -- but it could also be a boon for fast-moving business travelers.
Macau introduced a similar exemption in June 1998 on its departure tax, which ranged from 80 patacas to 130 patacas (US$9.96 to US$16.19) depending on destination. Hong Kong followed suit early this year but requires you to leave be fore midnight the day you arrived to escape its HK$50 (US$6.43) tax.
Officials in both cities say the exemption has helped tourism. The Hong Kong Tourist Association created a special tour that takes
short-term visitors through tourist sites in the city's Kowloon
district. A spokeswoman said some venture some travelers visit the Po Lin Monastery, on the same island as the airport and reachable by public bus. Citing the example of the swimming pool at Changi, Philip Chen, chief operating officer of Cathay Pacific Airways, says Hong Kong needs to find more attractions for transit passengers.
Hotels Offer Shirts Off Staff's Backs
IF YOU LOSE your luggage on the way to Singapore -- or even just pack the wrong things -- The Four Seasons Hotel Singapore will now
officially give you the shirt off the back of a similarly sized staff member. Spokeswoman Cherilyn Au says so far, the hotel has lent out T-shirts, shoes and caps in the "Do Leave Home Without It" program. Once, a hotel employee lent his own work shoes to an unprepared
businessman. More often, guests ask for exercise gear.
Meanwhile, the hotel is doing a busy trade with guests who want to take home something extra. Gift-shop manager Jamie Lee reports that she sells about six beds identical to those in the hotel's rooms each month. The most popular is the king size, at 3,600 Singapore dollars (US$2,144) for the mattress, box spring and metal frame. The gift shop also sells pillows and covers.
Ms. Lee has shipped beds as far as South Africa, but deflects orders from European and American customers because of the transportation cost. She says the beds, made specially by Sealy Corp., are popular in Asia because they are higher than those ordinarily found in the
region. She has even started logging sales from nonguests who hear others raving about the beds.
Though some guests want the beds they slept in, she sells only unused ones. But some hotels might consider the request. The Ritz-Carlton Double Bay in Sydney sold a room chair to a guest who said it was a missing piece in a set he owned and that he had been searching the country high and low for it.
Changing Hotel Names
YOUR FAVORITE business hotel may not be where you last saw it. A growing number of hotels in the region are changing names as they join a chain, or defect from one to an other.
For example, on Dec. 1, the Hyatt Regency Pusan in South Korea became the Pusan Marriott Hotel, and the Royal Crowne Plaza Singapore became the Royal Plaza hotel. Two months before, the Crowne Plaza Toyohashi in Japan became the Hotel Nikko Toyohashi.
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