Roads to Johor in Malaysia were jam-packed on Friday as Singaporeans embarked on their long weekend holidays ahead of National Day on Sunday.
Friday was made a public holiday as a way to commemorate Singapore’s Golden Jubilee, thus making the National Day weekend four days long – a great time for Singaporeans to go on holidays without having to use too many of their precious leave days at work.
Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob urged Singaporeans to stay in the country to celebrate SG50 during the long weekend. “My appeal to Singaporeans is to please stay in Singapore during the long weekend. I understand that Singaporeans take the opportunity during periods of long weekends to chill out with their families overseas, and on other occasions that’s all right, but on this occasion, I hope that they will stay and really celebrate together as a nation,” she said in March.
However, travel agencies reported a huge spike in bookings. The New Paper reported in March that agencies like Skyscanner had seen an increase of almost 740% in flights out of Singapore on 7 August. Cities like Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taipei were cited as popular destinations.
A slew of events and activities have been planned for the Jubilee weekend, such as free entry to museums, concerts in the Botanic Gardens, festivals and even the Asian elephants at the Singapore Zoo participating in a flag-raising ceremony.
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