You can tell a lot about a city by what it chooses to celebrates. The Philippine cities hold fiestas to honor their patron saints while Japan holds peach blossom festivals every April to cherish the blooming of its floral heritage . Singapore, which doesn’t have the centuries of culture, instead celebrates what its best known for: shopping and food.

Playing with its strengths, the Lion City holds The Great Singapore Sale (GSS, for short) this May 23 to July 20. For eight shopping-filled weeks, this event, co-organized every year by The Singapore Tourism Board and many other retail companies, stores, and malls, invites shoppers from all over Asia and beyond to participate in the many activities, discounts, and promos. GSS is definitely established as a shopping event that is not to be missed, even among international visitors who spent some $3.7 billion in 2006 on shopping in Singapore.

Here is a sample of the activities you can expect during the GSS:

Shopping Tours

Available only during GSS, the Shopping Tours will give visitors a chance to venture beyond Orchard Road to discover Singapore’s fascinating sights, various value options, and even samplings of scrumptious native snacks. There are three itineraries, each offering a different shopping experience.

Itinerary 1 – ‘Market, Electronics Megastore & More’ will cover Tampines Round Market and Food Centre – a traditional market with a modern concept for a Uniquely Singapore experience; Courts Megastore – Singapore’s largest electronics store for the latest gizmos and gadgets; and People’s Park – a popular icon in Chinatown for inexpensive textiles and toiletries.

Itinerary 2 - ‘Books, Bargains & Street Bazaar’ will present a mind-boggling range of books at Bras Basah Complex, interesting knick knacks at the push-carts in Marine Parade, and affordable street fashion and accessories at more than 600 stalls in Bugis Street – Singapore’s largest and best-known street bazaar.

Itinerary 3 – ‘Old Neighbourhood Shops & New Mega Mall’ will showcase traditional goods, local snacks and fresh tropical fruits at the neighbourhood shops in Hong Kah, followed by VivoCity - Singapore’s largest shopping destination with over 300 swanky local and international stores.

Late Night Shopping

11 major malls will take turns staying open till 11pm or midnight as part of the Late Night Shopping shop-stravaganza. Apart from six malls along Orchard Mall and Marina Bay, five more malls at the city’s fringes and outskirts are extending their shopping hours for a total of 19 nights. The malls participating along Orchard Road & Marina Bay are Marina Square, Paragon Shopping Centre, Raffles City Shopping Centre, TANGS Orchard, The Centrepoint, and Wisma Atria. The participating malls at the city fringe and outskirts are Causeway Point, Central, Compass Point, Jurong Point, and Northpoint.

Exclusive Privileges for Tourists

Visitors can apply for a Tourist Privilege Card which will allow them to enjoy a host of tourist privileges, discounts, extra benefits and rewards to cap off that perfect Singapore shopping holiday. These include:

Best Buys of the Season – Generous discounts on Tech Toys, Timepieces, Beauty & Scents

Hot Deals – Attractive incentives such as instant rebates and gifts with purchase to reward visitors who spend at the GSS.

Partner Promotions – Exclusive tourist privileges from MasterCard, Global Refund, Premier Tax Free and DHL.

There are even discounts for local attractions such as the Singapore Zoo, DUCKtours, and DHL Balloon!

The Great Singapore Shopping Challenge

This is the fifth year the Challenge has returned as the official launch event of GSS. Eight Singapore teams and nineteen international teams from 12 countries (Australia, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Middle East, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam) compete for top honors as they go for the best bargains at 3 designated malls and Little India. Teams of 2 are given only 3 hours to spend SGD 1,000 each in Wisma Atria, The Centrepoint, and Marina Square, plus additional Uniquely Singapore tasks, as well. Winning teams who complete the challenge with the most savings walk away with the grand prize of SGD 10,000. All participating teams get to keep their purchases.

For those who can’t make it to this year’s GSS, never fret: there’s always a bigger and better GSS a year away, and twelve full months to save up for this grand shopping holiday. So plan your trip early and visit Singapore now.

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Poll Question: How many hours would you drive just to see a roadside attraction that sounds exceptional?
If you trust reports in the news media, Americans are cutting back on long driving trips this summer because of the high cost of gas. But we suspect that many families giving up on travel plans may have had [...]

Are you in the process of planning a trip to Africa? If you are and if your trip will require air travel, you will find that you have a number of options when booking your travel arrangements. One of those options is to purchase an African vacation package.

Although African vacation packages do have their good and bad sides, there are many people that are willing to buy them, as well as recommend them to others. The reasons are two. The allure of African vacation packages is that you often receive a discount and that it is easy to book multiple travel arrangements all at the same time. Though you will find some variations, vacation packages should include more than just airline reservations. Depending on the package in question, they may include overnight accommodations and a car rental as well.

In the process of booking your next travel arrangements in the form of a vacation package, you might wonder how you can go about doing so. The good news is that you have a number of different options. Just a few of the many ways that you can go about finding and buying vacation packages that include airline reservations are highlighted below for your convenience. (more…)

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Sri Lanka weaves an amazing mix of attractive highlights – exotic wildlife, ancient ruins, temples, beaches and rolling tea plantations.

Asia Hotels Picks:
High-end:
Hilton Residence Apartment Colombo
Mid-range:
Galadari Hotel Colombo
Budget:
Grand Oriental Hotel Colombo

Read more about other attractions in our Sri Lanka guide. See what fellow travellers have to say in the Sri Lanka tales section.

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Click here for Part One
The process of transforming a pristine, untouched island into a hospitable place for vacation homes, resorts or even permanent residences can be an intimidating task, but as the first instalment of The Basics of Private Island Development has shown, there are a variety of resources available to help ease the process. [...]

Updated 20th June 2008

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