SINGAPORE — In a bid to spread awareness of “slow living” practices and encourage holidaymakers to be mindful of their surroundings, nine furnished safari glamping tents on Lazarus Island will be targeted for launch in early December, for people who seek simple pleasures while on holiday.
“Being very raw (and) untouched, it (Lazarus Island) makes the perfect launch platform for Into the Woods,” said Mr Lee.
Mr Lee also said that the concept of “slow living” was paramount to the project.
“Instead of itineraries and to-do lists, we found it was often the little things (like making a fire to brew a cup of hand-grinded coffee or reading a book under the stars) that made the travel experience memorable.”
Mr Lee said that for Singapore residents, staycations tend to come in the form of hotel stays.
With this in mind, he decided to include more “upscale” amenities like yoga mats and watercolour painting in the glamping tents.
“We hope (that) by having similar levels of comfort, with the added feature of nature at their doorstep and activities thoughtfully put together, (that it) will allow more vacationers to take the first steps to more mindful holidays,” he said.
The glamping tents will complement the island’s first overnight accommodation, the five fully furnished, one-bedroom Tiny Away Escape houses, that were announced in February and launched in April this year.
Besides the glamping tents, the island will have two new features: A water sports facility called Lazarus Sea Sports Centre and a “gourmet” convenience store named Sol by Bespoke Dining Club (BDC).
The Lazarus Sea Sports Centre features non-motorised water activities such as kayaking and paddleboarding and will be open for public booking after its official open house on Sunday.
It will open on Fridays from 10am to 4pm, and 10am to 5pm on weekends and public holidays. However, the centre will only accept private bookings from Monday through Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sol by BDC has already begun daily operations, and will soon be offering “gourmet” food options such as a meat platter, cheese platter, and seasonal oysters besides day-to-day necessities, groceries and microwavable ready-to-eat meals.
In line with the Southern Islands’ positioning as an eco-tourism destination, Sol by BDC’s storefront is repurposed from shipping containers, while its food offerings incorporate locally sourced produce, such as seafood, herbs and vegetables, from offshore local fish, hydroponic, and vertical farms in Singapore.
Speaking to reporters on Lazarus Island, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan said that he is “very much looking forward” to the upcoming glamping experience later in the year.
He also lauded the successful construction and launch of the various environmentally conscious initiatives on the island, such as the Lazarus Sea Sports Centre, which focuses on non-motorised water sports, and Tiny Away Escape houses which use solar energy as its main source of power.
“We have seen a few enhancements to the island, actually across all the Southern Islands, but particularly Lazarus Island,” he said.
“These are small but very impactful aspects to what we’re doing here in Lazarus Island. But finally, what we want to do is to engender a sense of preservation (and) conservation, even as ecotourism’s demand starts to rise.”