F1 Levy Period For 2009 Reduced To Four Nights

Singapore, 6 March 2009 – The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Singapore Tourism Board have reduced the Formula One™ (F1) levy on hotel room revenues for 2009 by one night, to a four-night period. This is a special measure for hotels this year, taking into consideration the current economic downturn.

Specifically, the F1 levy will be in effect from Thursday (24 September 2009) to Sunday (27 September 2009). The rates for the F1 levy on hotel room revenues in 2009 will remain unchanged from 2008:

(i) 30 per cent of the total revenues from rooms and room packages for trackside hotels; and

(ii) 20 per cent of the total revenues from rooms and room packages for all other tourist hotels.[1]

Based on the current circuit design, 13 hotels will be designated as trackside hotels for the 2009 race. These are:

a. Carlton Hotel

b. Conrad Centennial Singapore

c. Fairmont Singapore

d. Grand Park City Hall

e. Mandarin Oriental, Singapore

f. Marina Mandarin

g. Naumi

h. Peninsula Excelsior Hotel

i. Raffles Hotel

j. Swissotel The Stamford, Singapore

k. The Fullerton Hotel

l. The Pan Pacific Hotel, Singapore

m. The Ritz-Carlton Millennia, Singapore

In establishing the one-night concession, the Singapore Tourism Board consulted with the Singapore Hotel Association and recognised the industry’s concern that the hotel sector may be affected by the economic downturn. This concession also complements existing measures such as the STB’s S$90 million Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism (BOOST) initiative, developed to help the tourism sector tide through the downturn.

Singapore’s hosting of the F1 race in 2008 generated substantial economic benefits and invaluable branding for Singapore as a tourism destination. The 2008 FORMULA 1™ SingTel Singapore Grand Prix attracted over 40,000 overseas visitors and generated S$168 million in tourism receipts. The average length of stay recorded by these visitors was more than five days. Singapore’s hotel sector benefited across the board and recorded the highest-ever Revenue Per Available Room (Revpar) of S$462 over the F1 period. This was a 132.3 per cent jump compared to the overall Revpar in 2008.