SINGAPORE, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- In the bustling kitchen of the Coconut Club, a restaurant famed for its rice cooked in coconut milk with crispy fried chicken, the pace quickens as China’s "Golden Week" holiday brings a surge of visitors.
During this week, the restaurant needs to fry about 30 percent more chicken legs than usual, as chefs stacked trays of glistening drumsticks. Rice, dried anchovies, and coconut milk are also ordered in extra quantities for nasi lemak, the coconut rice dish beloved across Malaysia and Singapore.
The surge is predictable: during Chinese New Year, and the "Golden Week," which is the early-October holiday marking China’s National Day, lines at the door grow longer, said managing partner Daniel Sia.
One of the Coconut Club’s branches that draws tourists sits in the Kampong Glam neighborhood, where old shophouses release mingling aromas -- Cantonese dim sum, Indian roti, and Malay curries.
These streets have long been popular with travelers, and increasingly, with Chinese visitors. Since China and Singapore introduced mutual visa-free travel in February 2024, China has emerged as Singapore’s largest source of tourists. In the first eight months of this year alone, Singapore recorded 2.3 million Chinese arrivals.
The rush is particularly visible during the "Golden Week," when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel abroad. In Singapore, from small eateries to luxury malls, businesses prepare in advance.
At Takashimaya, one of the major department stores on Singapore’s main shopping street, Orchard Road, additional staff and security are deployed to assist customers and manage queues, while inventories of popular products are increased to meet the heightened demand, said Deputy General Manager Takafumi Kanke.
"The department store is noticeably more crowded across all areas, with longer queues at both checkouts and redemption booths. Transaction volumes are also higher compared to regular days," he said.
This year, tourists who follow Takashimaya Singapore’s account on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese lifestyle and shopping app, can redeem a reusable bag.
For restaurateurs like Sia, social media has already transformed the business. Sia remembered that before he even knew the restaurant was on Chinese platforms, some Chinese guests came up to him saying they were "on fire" there. Now, many posts on Xiaohongshu describe it as one of the best places in Singapore to try nasi lemak. To keep up, the restaurant has made sure to have enough Chinese-speaking staff and translated menus on hand.
Others are adapting, too. The Fairprice Group, Singapore’s largest retailer, recently provided basic Mandarin training for staff at its Cheers convenience stores. Grab, the dominant ride-hailing and delivery app, has made its Chinese interface more comprehensive, improving menu translations, airport maps, and ways to explore local dining and attractions.
"During the ’Golden Week,’ Grab typically sees demand grow for ride-hailing services," a Grab spokesperson said. "We look forward to welcoming visitors from China, as travelers are crucial for local communities and businesses on our platform."
Payment systems are following suit. More than 500 Fairprice Group outlets, including supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies, and food courts, now accept Alipay, one of China’s biggest mobile payment platforms. In late September, Cheers launched a new Alipay "mini-app." Fairprice Group CEO Vipul Chawla said the group is excited to kick off this partnership "to redefine retail for Chinese tourists."
On the streets, the influx is easy to spot. Crowds gather beneath the iconic Merlion’s spray of water, in front of the rainbow-hued Old Hill Street Police Station, or under the tree tunnel at Fort Canning Park. But many are straying beyond the postcard sights. A couple trekked to a lighthouse on Singapore’s western edge, with Malaysia’s coastline visible across the water at sunset. Others wandered through the woodlands of Pasir Ris Park on the northeastern shore, gazing across the Pacific in rare quiet.
"We see spillover from icons to micro-itineraries," such as bookshops, Nyonya cooking classes, spice markets, street-art walks, and speakeasy suppers, said Subramania Bhatt, founder of China Trading Desk, a Singapore-based marketing and research firm specializing in Chinese consumers.
Travel writer Yap Seow Choong has noticed the same shift. Increasingly, independent Chinese travelers contact him for excursions to Singapore’s southern islands, where at low tide they discover sea anemones, starfish, and clownfish.
"Some are surprised that in such a highly urbanized place, there are still wild, untouched experiences," he said.
Some visitors, in fact, are abandoning itineraries altogether. Lu Yujie, a traveler from China’s eastern Zhejiang province, stumbled into an independent bookstore while wandering around Chinatown in Singapore. Drawn by a white signboard, she lingered for an hour on a sofa upstairs. She copied a passage from the book she was reading, posted it on the store’s wall like other visitors, and shared the experience on social media.
"The space really invites you to sit down with a book," she said. "I just hope this bookstore will still be here the next time I come."
Back in China, those posts ripple outward. Travelers share their discoveries of quirky shops, secret bars, and niche brands on Xiaohongshu or Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. That content, Bhatt said, in turn feeds small-business demand and repeat travel.
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2025/1007/c90000-20374284.html