Labour Day, which is also known as May Day, has its origins in the labour unions. Labour Day arose from the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, and eight hours of rest or sleep.

Around the world, Labour Day is tantamount to International Workers' Day, which falls on 1 May. Labour Day also signifies the beginning of the Spring season.

That said, for some countries, such as Canada and the USA, Labour Day (strictly speaking, Labor Day) is celebrated on a different date, often one with special significance for the Labor movement in these two countries. Their Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September and is considered the official end of their summer holiday, as public school and university students return to school around that day.

In the United Kingdom, May Day is still celebrated in many towns with the crowning of the May Queen. Meanwhile, in Hawaii, May Day is known as Lei Day to celebrate the island's culture.

May 1 is a national holiday many European countries including Finland, Holland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Tioman Island

Closer to home, in Singapore and Malaysia, Labour Day falls on a Thursday this year. But with just one extra day, you can stretch Labour Day into a loooong Labour Day Weekend! So beat the crowds and the endless Labour Day queues that are likely to form by booking your ferry tickets today.

If you want to go to Mersing Harbour Centre by bus at Labour Day, then click bus to Mersing to book your bus tickets.

If you prefer taking a taxi to Mersing, then you can book your vehicle here.

NOTE: Since 2010, the number of hotel rooms in Tioman has outgrown the number of ferry tickets to Tioman that are available. This is the result of Tioman's ever-growing popularity as a weekend getaway outpacing the ferry's ability to cope with Mersing's waterways low water levels. Bottom line, as the ferry can only depart during high tide, the number of ferry crossings to Tioman is, at times, limited to as few as one crossing per day! With this in mind, we urge Tioman travelers to book the ferry with plenty of advance, especially during public and school holidays, as well as weekends. This way, the situation of having a hotel booking but no ferry booking to get to that hotel may be avoided.

Book your ferry tickets now.