Singapore, 18 September 2020 - Wistfully scrolling through your past Instagram travel photos and wondering when you can book your next holiday? Good news - UPGREAT Virtual Vacay is here to bring your holiday to you!

Great Eastern’s new virtual travel and booking platform offers the comfort and safety of travelling from your own home, and if #FOMO is too much to bear, you can even start booking your next holiday right now. UPGREAT Virtual Vacay is launched in collaboration with lifestyle and travel website The Travel Intern and popular shopping platform RebateMango.

Vacay from the Comfort of Your Couch

Teleport yourself to five exciting and well-loved destinations of interest - Japan, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam - through a series of immersive curated virtual tours with virtual guide Sam. Customise your travel experience and decide where to go, what to do, and even what to eat, in a snap!

Missing Japan? Now you can virtually Go-Kart through Shibuya, visit Tokyo’s craziest bar and train like a ninja at the Oshino Ninja Village. Then, pop over to New Zealand and see nature at its most beautiful. Wander around the Hobbiton movie set, hike at Marokopa Falls and for the brave-hearted, conquer New Zealand’s tallest bungee or swing upside-down across the Nevis River! Feeling hungry after all that adventure? Check out Taiwan’s famous night markets or take a food tour at Jiufen Old Street.   

The virtual tours for Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan are now available on the platform, and travellers can look forward to the Korea and Vietnam tours in the coming weeks.  

Go Local

Need a break from the WFH arrangements? Check out the customised staycation itineraries designed to help you uncover new sights and sounds in Singapore. Explore iconic areas such as Chinatown, Kampong Glam and Downtown Core – simply book your accommodation, walking tours, restaurant reservations, and start exploring our fair isle on foot, and support Local!

UPGREAT Your Bookings for More Convenience & Rewards

The platform also offers attractive promotions, rewards, and bundles with travel partners such as Booking.com, Hotels Combined and Agoda. Book your trips now conveniently through UPGREAT, Great Eastern’s lifestyle and rewards app, without worrying about cancellation fees.

What’s more, to celebrate the launch of UPGREAT Virtual Vacay, earn Double UPGREAT points through the app’s “Shop & Earn” feature when making travel bookings through Agoda, Klook, Expedia and many more. With an extensive retailer access powered by RebateMango, the app offers users a seamless and rewarding online shopping experience. The UPGREAT app is free for anyone to join and is not restricted to Great Eastern customers.

CHOPE Your Insurance Now!

To provide you with greater peace of mind, simply register on the platform and receive a complimentary one-year GREAT Value Protect plan, which provides a daily hospital cash benefit (up to 14 days) if one is hospitalised due to COVID-19, Dengue Fever, food poisoning, accidents, Yellow Fever or Zika, as well as death benefits due to accidents or COVID-19. UPGREAT also brings to consumers Travel E@sy, which allows you to “chope” (or reserve) your travel insurance plan for any future travel from 2021 at 60% off regular prices.

Why Vacay Virtually with UPGREAT

Ryan Cheong, Managing Director of Digital for Business, Great Eastern, said: “The love for travel is such a big part of our Singaporean DNA. With UPGREAT Virtual Vacay, we aim to bring customised experiences and travel benefits to our hundreds of thousands of UPGREAT members and all who can’t wait to get out and about. As the Life company, we aim to delight our followers on our digital channels in the areas most exciting to them, and UPGREAT Virtual Vacay is a great way to do this. Like most Singaporeans, we believe in planning ahead for later.” 

Hendric Tay, co-founder of The Travel Intern said: “With limited opportunities for physical travel, all we wanted was to be transported to our favourite destinations. Collaborating with Great Eastern to design virtual travel journeys was immensely fun for the team. We hope this can bring delight to anyone who has had to cancel their travel adventures this year, regardless of their travel styles.”

So what are you waiting for? Check out UPGREAT Virtual Vacay today at https://upgreatsg.app.link/e/vacay for your next adventure!

About UPGREAT

UPGREAT rewards users with exclusive lifestyle dining and shopping privileges. It is a single mobile platform where users can enjoy their loyalty benefits and rewards digitally, transfer and share with their friends and family members. Users can accumulate reward points as there is no expiry date for these points.

About Great Eastern

Founded in 1908, Great Eastern is a well-established market leader and trusted brand in Singapore and Malaysia. With over S$90 billion in assets and more than 8 million policyholders, including 5 million from government schemes, it provides insurance solutions to customers through three successful distribution channels – a tied agency force, bancassurance, and financial advisory firm Great Eastern Financial Advisers. The Group also operates in Indonesia and Brunei and has a presence in China as well as a representative office in Myanmar.

The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited and Great Eastern General Insurance Limited have been assigned the financial strength and counterparty credit ratings of "AA-" by Standard and Poor's since 2010, one of the highest among Asian life insurance companies. Great Eastern's asset management subsidiary, Lion Global Investors Limited, is one of the largest private sector asset management companies in Southeast Asia.

Great Eastern is a subsidiary of OCBC Bank, the longest established Singapore bank, formed in 1932. It is now the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets and one of the world’s most highly-rated banks, with an Aa1 rating from Moody’s. Recognised for its financial strength and stability, OCBC Bank is consistently ranked among the World’s Top 50 Safest Banks by Global Finance and has been named Best Managed Bank in Singapore by The Asian Banker.

#GreatEasternSG #TheLifeCompany #Lifeproof

Media Contacts

Annette Pau
VP, Group Corporate Communications
Email: Corpcomms-sg@greateasternlife.com

Crystal Chan
AVP, Group Corporate Communications
Email: Corpcomms-sg@greateasternlife.com