Singapore Visitor Arrivals for October 2003

Singapore received a total of 586,016 visitor arrivals in the month of October 2003, a 1.1 % increase over September.

Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Australia and Japan remained the top markets, accounting for almost 50% of visitor arrivals. In particular, visitor arrivals from India (+3.9%), Thailand (+15.8%) and the Philippines (+9.4%) showed positive growth, indicating plausible full recovery in these markets.

Visitor arrivals from India in October achieved positive growth (+3.9%) for the third consecutive month. This growth was mainly driven by an increase of 9.8% in business related arrivals compared to a year ago.

Business related traffic from Thailand registered a strong positive growth of 14.3% in October as compared to a year ago. Coupled with a positive growth of 11.9% from holiday arrivals, visitor arrivals from Thailand registered a double digit growth for the fourth consecutive month since July 2003.

The strong growth in business related arrivals (+12.3%) from the Philippines contributed to an increase in visitor arrivals by 9.4% over October 2002. Moreover, visitors from the Philippines who were visiting friends and relatives in Singapore also recorded a significant growth (+19.8%) in October as compared to last year.

Visitor Arrivals for January - October 2003

The year-on-year decline in visitor arrivals for January to October saw an improvement over the year-on-year decline in visitor arrivals for January to September. Year-on-year visitor arrivals declined by 23.5%, for the first ten months of 2003. This is an improvement over the year-on-year 25.2% decline experienced for January to September 2003.

For holiday arrivals, which declined 28.4% in the first ten months, Indonesia (-9.8%), UK (-16.8%), Thailand (-17.1%), Hong Kong (-16.3%) and the Philippines (-21.8%) registered lower than average declines. However, holiday arrivals from markets such as Japan (-49.8%), India (-39.6%) and Australia (-39.4%) are recovering at a slower rate.

For year-to-date business-related arrivals, which declined 19.6% in the first ten months, Indonesia (-11.0%), China (-12.7%), India (-7.4%), Thailand (-18.8%) and the Philippines (-16.0%) registered lower than average declines. In comparison, business-related arrivals from South Korea (-30.6%), USA (-27.8%) and Japan (-24.9%) are recovering at a relatively slower pace.

Hotel Sector Performance

The average hotel occupancy rate for October stands at 75.3%. Average room rates reached $120 in October, the highest since the SARS outbreak earlier this year. As a result of the increased room rates and the leveling of occupancy rates, total room revenue is estimated to reach its record highest since the SARS outbreak at $82.2 million, representing the smallest rate of decline (-3.7%) compared to the same period a year ago.