SINGAPORE tourism performed within the forecasted range in 2013 according to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), who said better air connections had driven strong growth from East Asia.
The Lion City welcomed 15.5 million international visitors last year, up from 14.5 million (6.9 per cent) in 2012, while tourism receipts totalled S$23.5 billion (US$18.6 billion), a 1.6 per cent year-on-year rise.
STB had earlier forecast 14.8-15.5 million arrivals and tourism receipts of S$23.5-24.5 billion for full-year 2013 (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 14, 2013).
This year’s forecast figures will be revealed at a later date, said Oliver Chong, director of communications, STB.
Indonesia (2.3 million arrivals), China (1.9 million), Malaysia (910,000), Australia (842,000) and India (703,000) were Singapore’s top five international visitor-generating markets. The strongest year-on-year growth in arrivals came from China (26 per cent), Hong Kong (17 per cent) and Taiwan (29 per cent).
Said Chong: “The large growth from these three countries was boosted by the increase in air capacity, and higher twinning traffic with Malaysia as well.”
China also registered the biggest jump in tourism expenditure, spending S$2.4 million or 26 per cent more year-on-year, with shopping making up the bulk of expenditure at 46 per cent.
On industry efforts, Chong said the ongoing travel consultant manpower study launched in December 2013 will help STB understand pertinent issues like the labour crunch so it can help develop initiatives to address them.
When asked about the possibility of raising the barriers to entry for aspiring travel agencies to protect consumers against sudden closures as with Five Stars Tours in January (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 12, 2013), STB’s chief executive Lionel Yeo, said: “We are currently seeking industry opinion on this.”
