National University of Singapore’s UTown Green. - Photo: Jean Iau
SINGAPORE/BEIJING (SCMP): A Singapore university is bracing itself for a rush of tourists during China’s “golden week” national holiday, amid complaints of an influx of visitors earlier this year.
In a statement from the National University of Singapore Students’ Union on Thursday, president Huang Ziwei told students that more tourist visitors were expected from next Monday to October 7, during China’s week-long National Day break.
Tourists will not be allowed to use the campus shuttle service between 8am and 2pm from September 30 to October 7, with some exceptions, while access to food courts at the university’s UTown will be restricted to students, staff and authorised persons from 11am to 2pm.
These measures were announced ahead of an expected surge in Chinese tourists during China’s coming golden week, which begins around October 1. Tens of millions of Chinese citizens would travel to family reunions or go on vacation during the holiday.
“We have been working closely with the management-appointed taskforce to ensure that proactive measures are in place to address any potential influx of tourist visitors,” said Huang in the statement seen by This Week in Asia.
NUS has said it will introduce a visitor access system to control crowds in certain areas. - Photo: Jean Iau
Last month, the university announced it would introduce a registration system for tour buses and a visitor access system to control crowds in certain areas. Undergraduates were also being trained to lead guided tours.
NUS said then it aimed to have these new measures ready by January 2025.
A spokesman for the university told This Week in Asia that NUS believed the measures would help achieve a balance between preserving the academic environment and keeping the campus open.
“Meanwhile, existing measures are already in place to manage tourist footfall on campus in anticipation of the coming China golden week,” said the spokesman, outlining the measures stated in the student union’s statement.
For Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a spokesman said it was not implementing new measures for this period.
Since February, NTU has required travel agencies planning tours to the campus to get approval.
Visitors must keep to public areas and security personnel and student guides will continue to monitor tourist access to food courts and other campus services, according to the spokesman.
These measures have kept the situation at the university largely under control and we do not see the need to introduce new measures for now,” said the spokesman, noting there had not been an uptick in tour group registrations for the coming weeks.
A tourist poses for photos at the Merlion Park in Singapore. Some 1.23 million tourists from mainland China visited Singapore between January and November last year, official data showed. - Photo: EPA-EFE/via SCMP
A tourist poses for photos at the Merlion Park in Singapore.
NUS students who spoke to This Week in Asia said this was the first time they heard of their campus taking such measures at this time of the year.
They also noted that fewer tourists had been spotted on campus since the university rolled out measures to clamp down on such visitors.
Philosophy undergraduate Nicholas Wong said: "I know many friends and students who welcomed the restriction of non-NUS persons in dining establishments during lunch hours, as most residences in UTown don't provide lunch. That was the biggest point of contention for most people I know."
Natalie Fong, 20, a second-year economics major and a UTown resident, noted that the tourist crowds had reduced and welcomed the pre-emptive measures.
"UTown already experiences plenty of traffic among students for the shuttle buses, as well as the food courts. Limiting tourists' access to these does help us students get to class on time, as well as grab lunch during lunchtime," she said.
Prior to the measures, Fong recalled being asked by tourists to let them into her dorm and finding it difficult to find a place to eat lunch on most days.
She said the university should have taken swifter action in placing stringent crowd management measures from the start, citing how shuttle buses continued to be used by tourists because rules were not strictly enforced.
"NUS should continue to grant access to Chinese tourists, as many universities around the world also have tourists visiting their campuses as well. However, the well-being of current students shouldn't have been compromised," Fong said.
A tour group of South Korean children led by two men claiming to be alumni of NUS in Singapore. - Photo: Jean Iau
Meanwhile in NTU, students hoped that similar measures could be implemented. Wyan Sia, 24, a second-year sports science management student, said travelling to and from classes had been "disruptive", due to the throngs of tourists in the school.
"It's understandable why they want to visit the campus, but I feel it's maybe best to allow access to tourists only on weekends," he said.
On Friday afternoon, while no Chinese tour groups were spotted around NUS' UTown during lunchtime, Chinese alumnus Alvin Song, 24, was taking pictures of his mother on the Town Green.
Song, currently a postgraduate at a different school, said: "She just wanted to see what it looks like here because she hasn't seen it before."
He added that he graduated in 2021 and remained in China until pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Two men dressed in black, who claimed to be NUS alumni, were leading a group of about 25 Korean children and teachers about the campus. They declined to comment.
Last month, Chinese postgraduate students faced backlash for offering a two-hour tour of NUS to visitors for cash. The tour, which has since been removed, was found on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu for 273 yuan (US$38).
One of the postgraduate students, who declined to be named, said Chinese tourists wanted to visit the university owing to its prestige. NUS retained its eighth position in the latest Britain-based Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings 2025 and is the top-ranked among Asian universities, while NTU was ranked 15th.
Some 1.23 million tourists from mainland China visited Singapore between January and November last year, according to official statistics. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
