THE Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has released its report on the city-state’s performance for 1H2014, which saw international visitor arrivals dropping three per cent year-on-year to 7.5 million.
Despite this, the market achieved two per cent growth year-on-year in tourism receipts to generate S$11.8 billion (US$9.3 billion), fuelled by an increase in expenditure in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming.
The STB report stated that the decline in visitor numbers was likely due to China’s new tourism law implemented in October 2013. The high-profile incidents of Malaysia Airlines’ MH370, kidnappings in Sabah and political unrest in Thailand, also took a toll on inbound Chinese traffic into the region.
But discounting Chinese tourists, visitor arrivals from other markets grew two per cent between January and June.
Meanwhile, gazetted hotel room revenue posted 9.1 per cent year-on-year growth during the same period, hitting S$1.6 billion.
As for Q2 results, tourism receipts fell three per cent year-on-year to S$5.6 billion and international visitor arrivals dropped six per cent to 3.6 million.
The shrinking in tourism receipts was attributed to lower shopping expenditure from the key markets of China, Indonesia and Malaysia. However, this was offset by growth in sightseeing, entertainment and gaming spend.
Gazetted hotel room revenue posted S$0.8 billion or 5.2 per cent growth in the same quarter.
