F1’s Bahrain Shuffle Turns October Into a Southeast Asia Hotel Boom

Photo Credit: Adelson grew his Las Vegas Sands Corp. into the world's largest casino company through Asian expansion (pictured: Marina Bay Sands Singapore). Wikimedia / Someformofhuman Malaysia wasn't originally supposed to host a Formula 1 race this year. But Bahrain's relocated Grand Prix has put Sepang back on the calendar — positioning Malaysia to benefit from F1 travel just days before neighboring Singapore hosts its own race. Malaysia will host the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit from October 2 to 4, its first race since 2017. The Singapore Grand Prix follows at Marina Bay from October 9 to 11. The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally scheduled to take place in Sakhir in April, but was called off amid the conflict in the Middle East. Formula 1 later moved the race to Sepang as a one-off event in October. Forward-looking data from Amadeus Travel Intelligence shows booked air arrivals from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore for October 5 to 11 are tracking 74% higher year-on-year, the period that covers the days between the two races as we