Economies: at last a bright spot

The Singapore F1 GP has already, the organisers say, given a return of more than 500% on the public investment in the project. Tickets have been sold out for weeks, and many hotels increased their rates for this weekend by several factors as soon as the dates were confirmed.

Traffic across the two crossings from Malaysia is expected to be exceptionally heavy due to both availability of hotels across the water, and the fact that prices are generally around a quarter of those in Singapore - with even greater differentials for the Grand Prix weekend.

Changi Airport and airlines are reporting heavy bookings.