Increasingly recognised as much more than a stop-over destination, scratch more than the surface of Singapore this Christmas and you’ll find the Asia-Pacific’s biggest and brightest Christmas light display and festival.
The highly anticipated annual Christmas in the Tropics sees the world famous 2.2km stretch of Orchard Road and Singapore’s Marina Bay turned into a magical Christmas playground, adorned with over 100,000 fairy lights, giant Christmas trees, illuminated store fronts and over 20,000 star-shaped lights.
Christmas in the Tropics runs from 20 November 2010 to 2 January 2011 and transforms the city into a breathtaking Christmas spectacle, hosting exciting shopping and dining deals, promotions and festive events.
Now in its 27th year, Christmas in the Tropics is a key event on Singapore’s calendar with over 2 million tourists visiting the festival last year. With this year’s theme ‘A Starlit Christmas,’ the streets, shopping centres and everything in between will turn into a starry winter wonderland - what fireworks and New Year’s Eve are to Sydney, the Christmas light-up and celebrations are to Singapore.
Area Director of The Singapore Tourism Board, Sandra Leong, comments, “Experiencing Christmas in the Tropics will be simply unforgettable. Imagine street after street aglow with Christmas lights. Imagine thousands of shops offering great Christmas promotions. Your Christmas gift-shopping will be such a breeze and you will be able to find something for everyone on your list at a great price.”
To launch the month-long festivities, President S R Nathan will partake in the extraordinary lighting of the city at the Switch On ceremony outside ION Orchard.
Iconic Singapore landmarks go on show in the Best Dressed Building Competition where buildings along Orchard Road and Marina Bay, including 313@Somerset and ION Orchard, will be dressed in their Christmas best with dazzling storefronts, grandiose light-displays and brilliant fairy lights strung from top to bottom, all vying for the winning title.
Visitors can also celebrate by attending the Christmas themed shows such as Celebrate Christmas in Singapore (CCIS) featuring carollers, mime performances and nightly parades. Tourists can enjoy the dazzling Christmas light-up on the free open-top bus tours available throughout the festival.
With the Aussie dollar at its current high, now is a better time than ever to do your pre Christmas shopping in style while grabbing a bargain at one of the most popular and famous shopping districts in the world.
Shoppers will revel in retail heaven on the highly visited Orchard Road, where high-end designer labels come together with unbeatable promotions and sales specifically for Christmas in the Tropics. In addition, the new Marina Bay Sands, with a massive 800,000 sq ft of retail and lifestyle space, will celebrate its first Christmas season and looks to wow tourists with dazzling decorations and superb shopping specials.
Visit the Yoursingapore.com website where you can personalise YourSingapore experience and source hotel packages, events and everything else to plan a Singapore holiday tailored for you. Scratch more than the surface this Christmas and see what Singapore has to offer.
