Tourism dip: Smaller crowds seen in Johor Baru town, an area that is often filled with Singaporean visitors during this time of the year. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: The year-end usually brings hordes of Singaporeans here, but this holiday season, the city feels unusually quiet, say Johor business owners.
They believe this is due to the stronger Malaysian ringgit, with the drop becoming especially noticeable since last month.
Besides the ringgit’s strong performance, other factors included the unpredictable weather.
“November and December have always been the busiest period for businesses here, but that does not seem to be the case this time.
“The crowd from Singapore is missing, even on weekends. This is probably the worst year-end crowd we have seen since the Covid-19 pandemic,” said business operator Robin Jian.
The third-generation owner of a cafe popular among Singaporeans said the stronger ringgit was largely responsible for the drop in customers.
“I believe this contributed to at least a 30% to 40% decline in Singapore visitors.
“Currency has always been a major factor for Singaporeans, as we’ve seen in previous trends,” he added.
Jian said other factors, such as the gloomy weather, worsening traffic and implementation of the Vehicle Entry Permit for foreign vehicles, also contributed to the thinning crowd.
Echoing the view was 52-year-old businessman S. Sures.
“The drop was gradual initially, but after Deepavali, the flow of visitors dipped.
“The currency is definitely one of the reasons, but other factors, especially the weather, also contributed to the situation.
“Although Johor Baru usually sees rain at the end of the year, this time it is heavier and far more unpredictable,” he said, adding that the multiple ongoing upgrading projects, especially in the town area, may have contributed to the drop.
“There are just too many projects happening at the same time, worsening the already heavy traffic and making parking even more difficult.
“I think all of these factors, along with the ringgit’s stronger position against the Singapore dollar, have created the perfect storm,” he said.
A frequent visitor to Johor from Selangor, who wished to be known as Raj, said he was surprised to see far fewer Singapore-registered vehicles on the roads and in shopping mall carparks last weekend.
“Usually, the weekends are full of Singaporeans coming over to shop and eat out. It would be so difficult to get a parking lot and the shelves at the supermarkets are also almost emptied out.
“But this time, it was far from that,” he said.
Raj added that shopkeepers told him the strong ringgit was the main reason.
“Most Singaporeans are very sensitive to the exchange rate, and you can see the effect in the lower numbers crossing over,” said a shopkeeper in Taman Pelangi.
Over the past week, the exchange rate for S$1 hovered between RM3.17 and RM3.19, compared with about RM3.30 during the same period last year.
