There was a total of 8.54 million visits by tourists to Singapore in the first half of 2017, up by 4.5 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Singapore Tourism Board. The expansion in the number of visits by Chinese tourists during the first six months of this year has helped the recovery of the city-state’s tourism sector, according to the government data.
The tally of visitor arrivals from China increased by 5.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, to 1.55 million. They accounted for 18.2 percent of the aggregate number of visitor arrivals to Singapore in the period, meaning China remains Singapore’s largest-single source market for tourists.
A total of 1.47 million tourist arrivals to Singapore were generated by Indonesian nationals in the same period, an increase of 4.0 percent from the prior-year period. Visitor arrivals from India – Singapore’s third largest-single source market for tourists – reached 659,799 in the six months to June 30, up 15.0 percent from the prior-year period.
Visitor arrivals to Singapore for June-only numbered 1.39 million, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, the biggest year-on-year increase so far this year, according to official data.
The tourism authority said earlier this year it expected up to 16.7 million visitor arrivals in 2017, which would represent a growth of up to 2 percent year-on-year.
Spending among visitors to Singapore has been increasing in 2017, according to official figures. Tourism receipts increased by 15 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017, to SGD6.4 billion (US$4.8 billion), the STB had announced in August. The tourism bureau is forecasting tourism receipts to expand in the range of 1 percent to 4 percent, or in full-year aggregate terms to SGD25.1 billion to SGD25.8 billion.
