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TWO months after the first phase of the Great Singapore River Light-Up, locals and tourists have given the area the thumbs up for its enhanced ambience.

Completed in August, the multi-coloured lights festooning the bridges, underpasses and trees on the river and its banks are part of an ongoing project by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to beautify the river.

The works are also aimed at turning a tourist spot with patchy success into a bigger draw for visitors.

The STB has no numbers on traffic in the area, but some Boat Quay and Clarke Quay restaurants and bars have observed bigger crowds.

And most of the locals and tourists interviewed by the river said they liked the changes and were now keener on revisiting the area.

On a visit one recent weekday evening, The Straits Times found office workers, students and joggers on the river banks, and tourists posing for pictures in front of the glowing bridges.

Danish expatriate Nadja Sondergaard, 24, who was taking in the view at UOB Plaza, said: ‘The lighting makes everything look cosy, and frames the river’s features better.’

Nearby, bank officer Xann Tay, 27, was stretching before a jog along the river banks with two colleagues. ‘It’s visually quite nice for running. It’s more vibrant and colourful,’ she said.

Australian honeymooners Mark and Helen Harper also liked what they saw.

Mrs Harper, 29, said: ‘We’re from Brisbane, which also has a river, but it’s not lit up quite so appealingly.’

Such comments are probably music to the STB’s ears. With the growth in tourist arrivals having slowed in recent months, it has become even more important for Singapore’s attractions to remain relevant.

Boat Quay and Clarke Quay attracted only 7 per cent of visitors in 2006, dismal against Orchard Road’s 73 per cent. Visitor numbers at the two quays went up marginally last year to 8 per cent.

The STB, coy about how much it has spent to revamp the river, is now moving into the second and final phase of the project, when it will bring similar lighting improvements to the stretch from Robertson Quay to Kim Seng Bridge. This phase is expected to be completed in March.

But while the crowds are coming, cash registers are not exactly ringing down the entire strip.

A few restaurants and bars, particularly those popular with the Shenton Way crowd, have reported a 10 per cent increase in business, but some merchants in the area have not seen the jump in business that they had hoped would buffer them from the coming slump in business expected.

A manager of a Boat Quay bar who declined to be named said tourist traffic appeared to have plunged 40 per cent recently; other operators in both quays complained that the lights lacked the impact to attract tourists.

In response, the STB has said it takes two hands to clap. Its director of events and entertainment cluster development Lynette Pang said that the merchants also had to do their bit to be creative about their product offerings.

Source : Straits Times – 28 Oct 2008