THE drastic fall in Chinese arrivals last year had hurt Singapore’s overall visitor numbers, prompting the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to step up promotions in China this year.
Total international arrivals in 2014 dipped 3.1 per cent to 15.1 million, from the record 15.6 million in 2013.
Following China’s imposition of anti-zero-fare tour laws, Thailand’s political unrest and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines’ flight MH370 – with the latter two having turned multi-destination Chinese visitors away – China was the only source market among Singapore’s top 15 to record a double-digit fall, at 24 per cent year-on-year.
At STB’s year-in-review conference this morning, Lawrence Leong, the board’s assistant chief executive, told TTG Asia e-Daily the board will be intensifying marketing efforts in tier-two Chinese cities to drive demand this year.
He said: “We have identified seven cities – Tianjin, Nanjing, Qingdao, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Chongqing and Wuhan – to reach out to more effectively. For instance, we will be doing roadshows and partnering closely with the local trade there, bringing them to Singapore on fam trips.”
Social media promotion will be one of the key approaches as well. Leong added: “We are also forging new digital partnerships with Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent Group to widen our audience reach in China.”
The silver lining, though, was that overall, visitors had stayed longer and spent more last year, allowing for tourism receipts to at least stay flat at S$23.5 billion (US$18.8 billion), according to STB’s preliminary estimates.
Singapore also welcomed more visitors from Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam.
On the back of a stronger won against the Singapore dollar and stronger outbound travel sentiments, South Korean arrivals increased 14 per cent year-on-year. Hong Kong and Vietnam sent 17 and 11 per cent more visitors respectively, year-on-year.
