Singapore GP Till 2017

As Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel won the latest Singapore Grand Prix last night, the bigger news at the Formula One pits is the deal Singapore scored to host the F1 grand prix for another five years.

The deal till 2017 is bad news to retailers in the Marina Bay area as every year, business in the area slow to a crawl due the road closure for the F1 race. In response to the outcry, the Singapore government has already indicated that it will try to come up with some promotion to help drum up business in the area during the F1 period.

They can forget it.

As a Singaporean who works near the Marina Bay area, I can easily tell you any plan or promotion will be a futile one. Every year when the F1 comes to town, I make it a point to avoid the area like a plague and I’m not the only one. It’s not just the road closure; there are diversions for pedestrians, armed police officers, and construction for the race everywhere. That is just not an environment for a nice shopping experience.

So save your money and forgot about doing any promotions for the area during F1. That is just not going to work. What I think the government should do is to give rebates to the business in the area for the loss of income. That will help them a lot more than a useless promotion.