Amid several positive tourism development announcements made at the Singapore Tourism Industry Conference on May 8, Singapore’s tourism leaders acknowledged concerns about the Middle East energy crisis, its knock-on effects on consumer spending, and strains local tourism businesses are under due to persistent global uncertainty.
The reality check comes as Singapore reported a successful year of tourism in 2025, when it made a record S$32.8 billion (US$25.9 billion) in tourism receipts and welcomed 16.9 million visitors. At the same time, Changi Airport welcomed an all-time high of nearly 70 million passenger movements, while 375 ship calls and over two million in passenger throughput contributed to Singapore’s cruise tourism endeavours.
Melissa Ow, chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said: “While visitor arrivals held up in the first quarter with a three per cent year-on-year growth, we expect muted demand in the months ahead. But as during SARS and Covid-19, I am confident that our solidarity and adaptability will carry us through.
“STB has already stepped up our efforts to support our industry partners to overcome immediate challenges. We will monitor the situation and adjust our support as needed.”
Grace Fu, minister for sustainability and the environment and minister-in-charge of trade relations, conveyed commitment to “support initiatives to help our industry capture opportunities and navigate near-term challenges” through the enhanced Tourism Development Fund, which has been given an additional S$740 million this year to be disbursed over the next five years.
Among immediate initiatives is an excess of S$20 million in total investments from STB and in-market partners to expand over 20 key trade partnerships across top 10 source markets. These partnerships aim to build destination awareness among potential visitors, accelerate bookings, and sustain visitor demand amid the challenging environment.
The new Market Access Fund, worth S$5 million, will help businesses grow their presence in new country source markets as well as secondary cities of established source markets, by reducing the financial risks of expansion.
Ow told TTG Asia: “We have earlier identified a few emerging markets that have yet to demonstrate very strong tourism potential, but (possess) very favourable factors that will augur well for outbound (traffic).”
She cited Poland and Spain as country examples and Australia’s Sunshine Coast, Indonesia’s Semarang, and Malaysia’s Kota Bahru as secondary city examples.
While the Market Access Fund “may not immediately yield results, it’s something which we’re hoping (Singapore tourism businesses) will appreciate is critical as they build resilience and competitiveness in the mid to long term”, Ow added.
Another S$5 million will be directed to the Business Events in Singapore (BEiS) Grant to expand support for businesses undertaking marketing activities aimed at building attendance.
STB is also supporting the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA) in launching targeted marketing campaigns to drive visitorship to our attractions.
The Hotel Rejuvenation Fund, which has supported the rejuvenation efforts of 13 hotels since its launch in 2025, will be extended by one year. Hotels have relied on the fund to deploy solutions that improve energy efficiency and enhance operational efficiency, among other uses.
Local tourism businesses will also benefit from an expanded Kickstart Fund, which will now support scalable new product pilots with up to S$1 million – up from the previous limit of S$250,000 per edition. This will grant businesses more opportunities to innovate and bring to life unique concepts with strong tourism appeal for high-value visitors.
