Are you loving this recession? You should be
by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“I am so loving this recession,†says my Canadian friend as she flicks back her long, blonde hair.
“My hair salon is giving 30% off. The house in Italy that I want to buy – the sellers have come down 30%. And I want to buy a place in Singapore,†she says.
Plus, next weekend, she is taking her daughter on a trip on the Eastern & Orient Express train from Singapore to Bangkok.
Yes, it’s consumer nirvana right now and when it comes to travel, nirvana never looked better. Deals are all around and they are hard to resist.
Another girlfriend who is off to Barcelona as I write this. She’s been asked to take unpaid leave by her company so it means she has extra time on her hands and knowing her, she will be taking more holidays.
And that’s what’s happening out there – people have more time than they’ve ever had and there are more travel deals out there than there’ve ever been.
An article in New York Times, Hard Times? Time to Take Off, talks about people who’ve been laid off and are taking the opportunity to travel to places they’ve always dreamt about – Vietnam, New Zealand, China.
Said one woman who’d been laid off from Lehman Brothers, “For years I’d been working hard — 60 to 70 hours a week, not being able to a take a vacation.â€
So Ms Suzanne Schaefer, 33, cashed in her frequent-flier miles for the flight and took advantage of a 15 % discount that Intrepid Travel, an Australian-based tour operator, has been offering to people who were recently laid off, bringing the total cost of the trip to just US$1,500.
“I started realising, hey, when else do you have more than a week and a half to go somewhere?â€
Added the article, “Travel agents say that a kind of carpe-diem attitude is beginning to take hold among some customers, as travelers weigh whether to hold off on spending in case the economy worsens and that money is needed down the road or to cash in now while they can on that trip to Thailand or to that luxury resort in Mexico.â€
Another article in Freep.com is headlined: “Summer travel forecast? Blessedly cheap”
It says, “Summer airfares from the United States to Europe are down 19% since last summer, while domestic airfares have fallen 9%, according to a report today from Farecast (http://farecast.live.com/), which tracks air and hotel price trends.â€
What all the deals are doing to consumer behaviour is also interesting – people are now planning their travels ahead of time to take advantage of the fantastic bargains out there.
Singapore Airlines offering free upgrades to Kris Flyer members?
Come on, folks, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
Ian Jarrett
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