Tourists admire the view of Marina Bay Sands
Arrivals to Singapore rose 12.5 per cent in 1H2016 over the same period in 2015, according to latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), and of the resulting 8.2 million visitors, the majority came from Indonesia (1.4 million, up 7.3 per cent) and China (1.5 million, up 55.2 per cent).
This signals a change in source market potential for Singapore, with China quickly overtaking Indonesia as the chart-topper.
Low See Peng, regional director, Greater China, STB said: “This strong performance could be attributed to Chinese residents’ increased propensity to travel and STB’s increased efforts to market Singapore in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities since June 2015.”
Low added that the increased flights from cities like Guangzhou, Chengdu and Chongqing were important contributors as well.
Daniel Goh, manager of Siam Express, said: “(China) will be a strong performing market in 2017 because of the strengthening Chinese yuan.”
However, inbound agents here are bracing for slower business from other markets in 2017, due to economic uncertainties.
Judy Lum, senior vice president sales & marketing international market at Tour East Singapore, said failing industries and rising unemployment as well as the “effects of Brexit setting in” will “affect (UK) holidaymakers’ decisions”.
GTMC Travel’s CEO Samson Tan urged Singapore to “create more niche tourism products, step up (courtship of) untapped central Asian markets and do more roadshows” to combat 2017’s expected slowdown.
