RuPay in Singapore – “Enjoy 40% cashback in Singapore with the RuPay JCB Global Card” – do tourists need another reason to come to Singapore? Yes, you are reading it right, it is not 3% cashback or 10% cashback, it is 40%! With an arresting visual of the Singapore Merlion set against a solid white background, this Singapore Merlion is not like any that you have seen before! Made of various mosaics of all things you can buy in Singapore from clothes, perfumes and many more, all of these items are possible for the attractive 40% cashback.

Rupay stands for Rupee and Payment and it may be new sounding to Singaporeans but it was conceived in 2012 as India’s domestic, open and multilateral system of payment. Working with Discover Financial and JCB, RuPay is now gaining international acceptance. The push for globalisation is made important as around 77.7 crore (777 million) Indian consumers shopped cross-border in 2021. RuPay has also been growing domestically and has the market share of RuPay in India by volumes of traction at 34% and by value 30% respectively by March 2021.

This RuPay-JCB Global card was launched on 22 July 2019 and this co-branded card aims to further increase the international acceptance of RuPay. Thus, not only will the RuPay-JVB Global card offer a special cashback program for POS transactions outside India in addition to selected popular international destinations for travellers, but it will also support additional services such as in-city JCB Lounges located in airports with round the year merchant promotions all over the world. 

According to Livemint, “India becomes the second largest contributor to Singapore tourists count” and this is no surprise since the total number of 612,300 visitors from India arrived Singapore till November 2022 as per Singapore Tourism Board (STB) data. Indian tourists are the second highest number of visitors arriving in Singapore. Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, China had the highest number of tourists visiting the island nation, according to the news agency ANI.

Indian tourists also stayed the longest with an average length of stay of 8.61 days compared with an average of 5.19 days. For comparison, Indonesians on average stayed 4.66 days, Malaysians for 4.28 days and Australians for 4.05 days.

Indonesia is the largest source of foreign visitors to Singapore with 986,900 visitors up till November, while Malaysia is in third place with 495,470, followed by Australia (476,480) and the Philippines (325,480). According to official data, these four countries together account for almost half (48 per cent) of the total arrivals to the small island state.

With China announcing last week that it will finally allow its citizens to travel abroad again, it looks like 2023 will see Singapore tourism reach a new post-pandemic level, as per ANI reports.

Shopping Belts such as The Orchard Road, Suntec City, Bugis as well as festive spots such as the Chinatown Singapore and Little India Singapore are set to welcome tourists back. For tourists from India, it is no surprise that they would want to visit the Mustafa, Centrium Square and the Little India Arcade area as it is familiar, entertaining and have many souvenirs from Singapore that will suit the needs of their friends and family back home.

Chinatown Singapore, is now gearing up for both the Chinese New Year and also to welcome back tourists since mid of last year. Popular shopping areas and landmarks will include People’s Park Complex, People’s Park Centre, Temple Street, Smith Street, Lucky Chinatown, Chinatown Point, Upper Cross Street and The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. According to past insights from STB:

“Chinese tourists are highly discerning shoppers with exposure to foreign goods and services and would conduct detailed pre-trip research on what to buy and where to shop! These tourists also have a strong gifting culture and souvenirs are must buys! In the past, famous medical oils from Singapore and traditional herbs such as Tongkat Ali are snapped up by the dozens by tourists. Some tourists will also travel with long shopping lists （清单）from their friends and relatives. These shopping lists typically consist of products from internationally renowned brands, ranging from cosmetics, bags, accessories and electronic devices, which are perceived to be either more authentic or cheaper compared to buying in China.”

To help these shoppers, payment gateways from China are also looking to offer international services. We have also seen the likes of Wechatpay, Alipay and China Union Pay advertising in Singapore.

Other advertisers looking to reach out the Chinese tourists can include the luxury items such as jewellery and watches, hotel, airlines, other tourism boards, education, immigration, alcohol, food souvenirs and medical related brands. Delivery services and other platforms that are familiar to Chinese tourists will be able to reach this group with both B2B as well as B2C possibilities. Advertisers such as Tudor did precisely that with its regular Out-of-Home advertisement space taken at the People’s Park Complex.

Indeed, a lot of bustles in Singapore for both local Singaporeans and tourists from both China and India that are enjoying the pleasure of travel and our beautiful city state.

Want to advertise like Rupay and Tudor in this beautiful city and attract more locals and tourists to your business? Quickly grab the opportunity to reach the right millions of audiences! Contact The Perfect Media right now for more details!