Singaporeans are getting more adventurous and creative with their travels – find out how and why
Self-drive tours
Renting a car for an adventurous road trip may not be new, but it has recently gained traction with Singaporeans – especially as we enjoy sniffing out hidden sights, which are usually buried deep in the countryside.
Chan Brothers Travel’s head of marketing communications, Jane Chang, said, “We have witnessed a year-on-year growth in demand for self-drive holidays to Australia and New Zealand of approximately 10 per cent.”
Self-drive holidays are so popular that they now make up “almost 50 per cent of [the agency’s] overall demand for travel to Australia and New Zealand”, Chang revealed. She speculated that the trend stems from minimised costs, “freedom of control” and “flexibility of time management”.
Similarly, Dynasty Travel shared that it has seen a rising demand for self-drive to these countries. However, in the past few years, Dynasty has observed more interest in other areas.
These include Hokkaido in Japan, Britain in the United Kingdom and the West Coast in the United States of America (USA), shared Alicia Seah, director of public relations (PR) and communications at Dynasty.
The mountainous routes of Hokkaido, Japan, may be daunting to uninitiated drivers. But companies such as Nippon Rent-A-Car offer not just vehicle rentals, but also navigation systems, detailed guides, recommended stays, 24-hour phone service as well as the travellers’ Hokkaido Expressway Pass – an automated toll card with unlimited usage.
Chan Brothers Travel also offers convoy services under its Free and Easy+ series, in which an expert guide will accompany self-drivers throughout the entire journey, offering help based on a suggested itinerary. Customers can always choose to deviate from the route to make their own discoveries.
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