The Great Singapore Sale is coming to a close soon on 28 July 2013. If you have not checked out the Great Singapore Sale deals, click here for the various offers.
MasterCard reported an increase of 12.4% to US$797.4 million in the first month of the Great Singapore Sale which started on 31 May 2013 comparing to the same period last year. The number of transactions also increased 17.1% to over 6.38 million.
Singapore-based MasterCard cardholders contributed to US$554.5million with 4.92million transactions in the first month of the GSS.
Dining remained the top category of spend for Singapore-based MasterCard cardholders contributing to US$36.1 million during the first month of the sale. This is an increase of 17.7% from the same period last year.
Tourist spend grew by 1.62% to US$242.8million this year. The top five shoppers by country based on spending on the MasterCard cards are Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and The United States. Americans and Japanese spent mostly on dining while Malaysians spent mostly on Computers, Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software. Australians and Indonesians spent at department stores during the GSS.
The top ten markets in terms of tourist spending decreased in dollar value by 2.79% despite a 16.5% increase in the number of transactions of the corresponding period in 2012.
Top 5 markets ranked in terms of tourist spending amounts:
| Rank | Market | No. of transactions | Transaction Amount | Top Spend Categories |
| 1 | Australia(1st last year) | 167,794 | $28,993,965 | Department Stores |
| 2 | Malaysia(3rd last year) | 142,621 | $23,573,264 | Computers, Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software |
| 3 | Indonesia(4th last year) | 119,360 | $22,449,942 | Department Stores |
| 4 | Japan(5th last year) | 133,602 | $18,978,444 | Eating Places and Restaurants |
| 5 | United States(2nd last year) | 90,118 | $17,310,882 | Eating Places and Restaurants |
Check out June’s passenger traffic in Singapore Changi Airport here.
To be able to get money at an ATM in Japan with a debit card with MAESTRO Function would be priceless…