Tourists at Universal Studios Singapore
Tourist spending in Singapore for the first half of 2016 rose 12 per cent year-on-year to S$11.6 billion (US$8.3 billion) while international arrivals rose 13 per cent to 8.2 million visitors compared to the same period last year.
According to the Singapore Tourism Board’s 2016 Q2 Tourism Sector Performance Report, the strong growth in 1H2016 was due to higher expenditure in shopping, accommodation and F&B, offsetting lacklustre expenditure in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming.
Gazetted hotel room revenue also rose, climbing 3.2 per cent year-on-year to S$1.6 billion. However, RevPAR has declined 2.4 per cent due to lower average room rates despite higher average occupancy rates.
Gazetted hotels are a clutch of hotels in city centre locations catered to tourists rather than local stays.
Looking at Q2 alone, tourism receipts grew by 20 per cent year-on-year to S$6.1 billion while foreign visitor arrivals were up 11 per cent to 4 million travellers.
