Global Courant
JOHOR BAHRU – Entrepreneurs in Johor hope that a series of concerts by British rock band Coldplay and American pop star Taylor Swift across the border in Singapore in 2024 will have some positive spillover effects for the state’s economy.
They hope to catch those who decide to make their hub in Johor due to the lower prices of essential items and hotel rooms compared to those in Singapore.
The chairman of the Malaysian Association of Hotels Johor Ivan Teo said that both industry players and Tourism Johor should step up their efforts in the coming months to promote the state to those who will attend the concerts.
“Most of the visitors are Indonesians who are used to spending their holidays here and know how to travel between Johor and Singapore.
“In order to attract visitors from other parts of the world, we need to provide more information and guidance on how to travel to Johor as they may not know how easy it is to get here,” he said.
In January 2024, Coldplay will play a total of six nights in Singapore, while Swift will play six nights in March.
Fans, already shelling out hundreds of dollars for tickets to the live shows, have been known to travel the region to watch such performances.
Johor Bahru Business and Hawker Association Chairman Roland Lim said that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Tourism Johor should take this opportunity to attract the thousands of international visitors who will come to Singapore for the concerts.
“Based on past experience, Johor has not had many spillover effects from such concerts in Singapore.
“However, if more efforts are made to promote the state to the visitors, maybe we can see some improvements this time.
“Instead of just promoting famous tour sites in Johor, the ministry and state government should also promote the wide variety of local hawker food, coffee shops and restaurants here,” he said.
He added that it is also important that traffic on the two land crossings between Johor and Singapore runs smoothly during such periods.
Suhairi Hashim, Director of Tourism Johor, said there are already ongoing efforts with tour operators in Singapore to include Johor in their packages.
“We don’t really expect a lot of spillover effects from such concerts, but we will continue to promote Johor and hope this will help to attract some audience,” he said.
