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According to Ms Dawn Tan, General Manager of Clarke Quay, the area, which comprises five blocks of restored warehouses converted into a lifestyle and entertainment precinct, receives close to 300,000 foreign visitors a month.
And if you check on the Internet, most visitors walk away impressed.
Ashit P called it the "best place to hang out in Singapore", and wrote, "This is a brilliant place for dinner, drinks or to party. Wonderful themed restaurants serving a wide variety of food including Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Morrocan and Spanish cuisines. Hukka bars and themed restaurants are wonderful. All the places have brilliant decor and the courtyard with a brilliant water fountain keeps you cool."
Another calls it a "great hangout place", saying, "The place is very tastefully decorated. Saturdays are the most active. The place comes to life around 9pm and goes on until 3am."
The diversity of things to do – from comedy to blues music to gourmet dining to adventure in the G-Max Reverse Bungy – is one of the reasons why Clarke Quay is so popular with visitors.
And with Clarke Quay hosting its own river festival during the Singapore River Festival, the area will become even more alive during the Formula One™ period.
Said Ms Tan: "The inaugural Formula One™ in Singapore happening during the last weekend of September will be an exciting time for Singaporeans and tourists coming to watch the race.
"We feel that having the Clarke Quay River Festival during this period will not only add to the festivities, it will also give Singaporeans and visitors to Singapore something to look forward to during that period.
"As one of the many stakeholders and a co-organiser of the event, we hope that Clarke Quay can liven up the Singapore River by night, with the various activities, local and international acts performing during the Clarke Quay River Festival."
She said that visitors to the Clarke Quay River Festival can look forward to a wide spectrum of music genres, from jazz to funk to hip hop. "On a more local note, Drumm'in Asia, a finale of authentic rhythms, choreographed into multi-cultural explosion of beats featuring the various ethnic drum troupes in Singapore, is something that tourists to Singapore can also look out for."
The group is performing from 26 to 28 September .
Pub walks along the river
Ms Tan noted that staging events and festivals was one way to keep tourists coming to Singapore, and to grow a base of repeat visitors.
"The various festivals and events highlight the different cultures of Singapore and what Singapore has to offer, giving tourists a multi-faceted perspective of Singapore. Also, having different festivals and events each year can hopefully attract repeat visitors to Singapore. We also hope that by positioning Clarke Quay to be a lifestyle destination of choice for tourists, we can help keep Singapore an attractive tourist destination."
As such, Ms Tan said Clarke Quay hopes to work with the STB on other events similar to the Singapore River Festival.
Meanwhile, One Lifestyle Group, which is staging "Diana Krall Live in Concert" on 26 September as part of the Singapore GP Season, is planning to create one of the region’s major music events, World Jazz, during the same period.
CEO of One Lifestyle Group, Mr Adrian Rudin told P@SSPORT that WorldJazz in Singapore, bearing the slogan "Jazz Goes Pop!" will be a 10-day event encompassing the weekends before and during the Formula One™ week with 30,000 to 50,000 ticketed performances including multiple stages and venues, with Keppel Island serving as the main hub.
One challenge facing event organisers however is the high cost of hotel rooms during the Formula One™ season, Mr Rudin said.
He said that foreign visitors were holding back on booking tickets to events "because right now, hotels are too expensive so people are waiting".
