SINGAPORE, 7 November 2017 – UnionPay, the Official Payment Card for Singapore Golden Week (SGW), revealed that total spending by UnionPay Cardholders in Singapore grew 40 percent year-on-year during the 17-day-long event held from 29 September to 15 October 2017. The growth was contributed by a surge in UnionPay card usage by locals and tourists during the SGW 2017 period, and boosted by the increase in participation by merchants and consumers in this year’s SGW.

Into its second edition this year, SGW is a lifestyle event designed to bring fresh new experiences to local consumers and tourists as part of Singapore Retailers Association’s (SRA) efforts to inject vibrancy into the local retail scene. This year, SGW presented a wider range of golden privileges - featuring offers at over 300 participating merchant outlets island wide, up from the 200 participating merchant outlets last year. Shoppers also enjoyed better golden rewards – in the form of shopping e-Coupons redeemable on SRA’s GoSpree mobile app worth a total of S$25,000, up from S$10,000 last year; as well as golden experiences - with over 1,100 complimentary golden taxi rides made available for the public over the three SGW 2017 weekends.

Following the close of SGW 2017 on 15 October, UnionPay revealed that spending by UnionPay Cardholders during the event grew 40 percent year-on-year, spurred by broad increases in spending across luxury goods, department stores, supermarkets, duty-free goods and food & beverage categories. Total spending by local UnionPay Cardholders in particular during the SGW 2017 period also doubled year-on-year, driven by growth in spending in fashion, supermarkets and food & beverage categories.

“With a bigger and better Singapore Golden Week this year, we are delighted to see positive growth in spending by UnionPay Cardholders across the board. We received very positive feedback on SGW from customers and non-customers alike, some even complimented us on Facebook. Our local and overseas Cardholders gave their stamp of approval for SGW via strong spending – all in all we are delighted that this year’s event appealed to a broader range of consumers from different walks of life. UnionPay’s payment products and services have been gaining momentum through our participation in the Great Singapore Sale and Singapore Golden Week, and this will spur us on to continue rolling out programmes that delight our customers, as well as consumers in Singapore,” said Mr. Wenhui Yang, General Manager of UnionPay International Southeast Asia.

“We are happy to see the expansion of SGW’s appeal to both locals and tourists this year. During the SGW 2017 period, SRA’s GoSpree mobile app gained more than 1,500 new members, bringing the total number of GoSpree members to more than 33,000 to date. We also saw a 15 percent increase in downloads of the GoSpree app from Chinese tourists, with over 1,300 e-Coupons redeemed during SGW 2017. As we continue to improve on the event, we hope to see more locals and tourists be part of the Singapore Golden Week festivities,” said Ms. Rose Tong, Executive Director of Singapore Retailers Association.