Passport? Check! Sunglasses? Check! Travel insurance? Check!

With travel season around the corner, are you all set for that big getaway over the June school holidays?

With our 0% foreign exchange fee offering, Trust Bank has rapidly become a go-to travel card for our customers. In fact, you’ve saved a remarkable S$18 million on foreign currency transactions over the last 12 months* through spending on Trust cards.

With our customers making more than 7 million foreign exchange transactions during that period, we’ve been able to spot some fascinating facts on how Singapore is travelling and spending.

Where are you travelling to?

Our customers have gone far and wide over the last 12 months, spending in over 160 countries. Perhaps unsurprisingly, at the top of the list was Malaysia, followed by Japan, the UK, the United States and South Korea.

But you’re an adventurous bunch and the list includes many far flung and off-the beaten destinations including Nicaragua, Bermuda, Senegal and the Solomon Islands.

Ecuador – home of the Galapagos Islands – is the farthest country on Earth from Singapore. And yes, our adventurous Trust community even made it there, a whopping 19,000km away!

Jom Makan!

So, with Malaysia firmly in the top spot for your foreign currency spending, what did you spend your hard-earned money on? It may come as no surprise that one of the top categories of spending in Malaysia was food. Whether it’s for lok lok in JB or claypot chicken rice in KL, food spend in Malaysia accounts for around one-third of total food spend globally outside of Singapore (yes, you read that right – that’s how much we love our neighbour’s sedap food!).

But what did surprise us, is that many of you are heading across the border to buy cookies! That’s right – Famous Amos was in the top 3 food merchants for your spending in Malaysia.

Sakura, snow and shopping

The Land of the Rising Sun was your favourite long-haul destination. Customers used their Trust cards there over the last 12 months, enjoying the seasonal variety of Sakura, food and snow. The favourable Yen to Singapore Dollar exchange rate has also been a major draw over the period.

For shopping, local brand Uniqlo was one of your favourites. But we were surprised to find that spending by our customers at Uniqlo was twice as much in Malaysia as it was in Japan!

Our customers also love Japan for another more luxurious reason…

Travel for haute couture

Many of you saved for a special treat and purchased top-end brands whilst overseas.

Japan showed up as the top destination in Asia for luxury shopping, followed by Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

But the top destination to buy luxury items was France – home to many of the world’s top brands. About 70% of money spent in the country was on shopping for fashion and lifestyle items, with luxury brands Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermes making up nearly a quarter of our customers’ total spend.

Still need cash? We got you!

Whilst the world is rapidly going digital, there are some countries where having some cash is still a must.

Countries with the highest ATM usage were Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand. It didn’t go unnoticed to us that these are all countries where hard cash is still the main way to get your fix of yummy street food.

Using Trust to withdraw cash at overseas ATMs, our customers saved almost half a million Singapore dollars in fees.

Saving to learn

Another interesting theme that showed up is how you are using your Trust card to pay for overseas education. In fact, one-third of your total education spend on Trust cards was in foreign currencies. Top overseas countries for education spend were the United States, Britain and Australia.

Monash University in Australia took the top spot for spending on university fees. Beyond universities, professional qualifications were also a major spend category, with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants programme in Britain and the Chartered Financial Analyst programme taking the two top spots over the last 12 months.

Final word

Our travel data shows just how far and wide Singapore is travelling! Before you head-off on your next adventure, we have three top tips to help you save money:

1. If you have the option of paying in foreign or local currency when making an overseas purchase, make sure you opt for the foreign currency (not Singapore dollars). This way, you’ll benefit from an exchange that is close to what you see on Google.

2. If you haven’t already got your travel insurance, head over to the Trust App and get covered with Income Insurance in just a few clicks. It’s fast, easy and will give you peace of mind as you set off on your travels!

3. If you’re short on cash during your trip, use your Trust card for withdrawals at any Visa network ATM machine. Please be aware that the ATM provider may charge a fee but Trust doesn’t so you’ll save compared with other cards. And, as with our card spend, the FX rate you’ll get is close to the rate you see on Google.

Happy travels!

P.S. - Travelled to Malaysia recently? Show us that bag of cookies on our social media for a shout-out!

* Period of survey was from 1st April 2023 until 31st March 2024.