By Monica Kotwani | Posted: 31 January 2011 1954 hrs
SINGAPORE : The wet weather the past two days has affected businesses, travellers and shoppers.
Businesses along Orchard Road were expecting huge crowds of shoppers over the last weekend before Lunar New Year.
But they were sorely disappointed.
One
business owner at Lucky Plaza said: "I think this is unusual. Normally
we see more crowds, but now I can see that even (during this) Chinese
New Year period, there are no people on Orchard Road."
Another
business owner at Lucky Plaza said: "This year, it is really quiet.
Hopefully we will get a better crowd, but the rain is killing us,
frankly speaking. I think the people in Chinatown are complaining. Last
year it was a lot better."
Some florists and nurseries Channel
NewsAsia spoke to said business dipped by about 20 per cent. But most
are confident it will pick up soon.
James Koh, co-partner of
Hawaii Landscape, said: "There is a slight slowdown, of course. (The
rain has) been continuous for about two nights. Other than that, people
are still coming. They still keep on coming with their umbrellas."
But there was a bright side for some shoppers.
One
shopper at Far East Flora, Calvin Tan, said: "(The rain has helped me.)
Since fewer people are coming, I managed to get a parking lot. Normally
it is worse than this."
Tourists too felt the dampener in the festive mood.
One
couple from the UK said: "We wanted to do some sightseeing, we went on a
tour yesterday. It rained. We could not see anything from the coach. We
got out, we were dripping wet. We go home today. We were here for three
days. It is a shame."
Train services to and from Malaysia and Singapore have also been disrupted for a second day.
Keretapi
Tanah Melayu (KTM) said eight services to and from Singapore to various
parts of Malaysia have been disrupted because tracks are unsafe because
of floods in Johor.
Of these, two trains to and from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have been cancelled.
Train
services travelling to and from Singapore and Butterworth in Penang are
now operating only to and from Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth.
But
despite the floods which have cut off some roads to towns such as Muar,
Segamat and Labis, coach services seem to be operating.
Travel
agencies told Channel NewsAsia that there has been a 30-40 per cent
increase in queries and last-minute bookings to Malaysia.
- CNA/ms
the prolong rain affect the already weak consumers sentiments.
Yup. And i guess nobody really buys anyway, even if there is no rain. Probably a little bit more.
If the weather is hot, they will say hot weather result in poorer sales cos people shun going out. LOL...
that is probably seeling things people don;t really need, or else people have been buying things they don;t really need. otehrwise even if rain really need the things will still go and buy. next time raining day i can buy things without so many window shoppers slowing me down.