Singapore visitor spending loses pace with arrivals

Thursday 31st of October 2019

Despite an increase in international arrivals to Singapore, visitor spending dipped 1.3 percent in 19Q2, according to figures from the Singapore Tourism Board.

During the second quarter of 2019, visitor arrivals increased 1.7 percent to 4.6 million. However, spending fell 1.3 percent to S$6.5 billion in the same period.

This was nonetheless an improvement from the first quarter, when tourist spending fell 4.8 percent.

According to the STB, the decline in tourism receipts was due to lower spending in areas such as accommodation (down 13 percent); food and beverages (down 5 percent); and sightseeing, entertainment, and gaming (down 2 percent).

STB director for digital transformation Poh Chi Chuan said the overall decline in spending was due to lower spending in the leisure and business events sectors.

Uncertainties in the global economy and currency fluctuations against the Singapore dollar continue to encourage more cautious spending by visitors, he said.

The only sector that saw growth was shopping, which rose 11 percent in the quarter.

In regards to visitor statistics, China, Indonesia and India remained the top three tourist source markets responsible for the majority of arrivals and spending, with 1.81 million visitors from China (S$897 million in spending), 1.49 million from Indonesia (S$757 million in spending), and 747,000 from India (S$478 million in spending).