JB abuzz with school holiday crowds

Out and about: People seen shopping at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

JOHOR BARU: The start of the school holidays in both Malaysia and Singapore has seen massive crowds here, with several areas in the city experiencing traffic congestion over the weekend.

At the Johor Causeway yesterday morning, scores of cars were seen entering the state from Singapore.

The downtown area here was abuzz with people making a beeline for popular food outlets.

Marketing and communications manager of a hotel here, Keyin Tay, said the hotel is expected to be fully booked from this weekend until the next when the holiday season ends.

“We have been seeing bookings increasing week by week, especially on weekends, with most of them coming from Singapore.

“Weekends that coincide with the school holidays typically draw more crowds and we are almost fully booked this weekend.

“We expect the number to continue to go up until the end of the school holidays,” she told The Star.

There was heavy congestion at the Causeway earlier yesterday as many vehicles from Singapore crossed over to Johor Baru.

Malaysian schools are currently on their week-long term two break, which ends on Sept 10 or 11, depending on the states.

One of the owners of another hotel here, Alice Chan, said at least 80% of its rooms are occupied.

She added that they have been having busy weekends almost every week since the reopening of the borders in April.

“This has really helped us to recover after suffering major losses in the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.

Chan said for this weekend, the crowds are larger than usual due to the school holidays on both sides of the Causeway.

“Apart from Singaporean visitors, however, we are also getting travellers from other states such as Sabah and Sarawak,” she said.

The owner of the town bakery famed for its banana cakes, Lim Toh Huei, said it has been hectic every weekend since the reopening of the borders.

“We are really busy every weekend and business has returned to pre-pandemic times.

“Most weekends, customers have to wait for about an hour to get our banana cakes,” he said.

Lim said other businesses around town are experiencing a similar resurgence with the return of Singaporean consumers.