Saturday's announcement sparked a surge in travel demand that temporarily crashed the Singapore Airlines website and had travel agencies working at full tilt over the weekend.
SIA said there is strong demand for its VTL flights, but declined to reveal any figures due to commercial sensitivity.
Mr Jeremiah Wong, senior marketing communications manager at Chan Brothers Travel, said that the travel agency saw a more than five times surge in inquiries on their website.
Customers also contacted the agency through messaging apps, email, phone and social media.
He said that the inquiries have become “more direct” and people are “ready to book flights”, compared to before when interest had been more tentative.
“This announcement is opportune as the year-end period is when Singaporeans are looking to travel,” said Mr Wong.
Chan Brothers is rolling out itineraries for South Korea, which is a popular destination with Singaporeans, and Mr Wong thinks that Europe will also be more attractive now that travellers can choose to visit a few destinations there.
The agency has also received many queries from potential travellers about safety protocols and the COVID-19 situation in the countries they are interested in visiting.
TRAVEL INTEREST TO SOUTH KOREA, SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Ms Lim En Yu, 45, has already booked a trip with her husband and teenage children to South Korea in December.
While they had planned to go to Japan over Christmas if the country opened up, they switched the destination to Korea after the VTL announcement.
The family of four will be visiting Seoul and a ski resort on their first family trip in two years.
“The kids wanted to ski in Korea again for nostalgic reasons as it's where they first learnt to ski seven years ago. We also have some Korean friends and intend to catch up with them in Seoul,” said the marketing director at a property firm.
At Nam Ho Travel, a spokesperson told CNA that the agency is seeing more demand for travel to South Korea than European countries.
More people have been asking for private, small-group tours and there is a preference for more relaxed itineraries rather than those that try to cover as many destinations as possible – a norm in the past.
“I think right now some customers … just don’t like to mix with other people anymore,” she said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vc2luZ2Fwb3JlL3Z0bC10cmF2ZWwtc291dGgta29yZWEtZXVyb3BlLXVzLWNhbmFkYS1ob2xpZGF5cy0yMjM2MjY20gEA?oc=5
2021-10-12 01:19:00Z
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