Singapore Visitor Arrivals in May 2002

Visitor arrivals from China increased by 34.3% mainly due to the growth in land arrivals (+83.4%) this month. Holiday and business-related grew by 40.0% and 9.0% respectively. 

The Malaysian market declined by 7.7%. This could be attributed to the increased domestic tourism promotion within Malaysia. In addition, cheaper domestic travel with the introduction of budget airline Air Asia and increased airfares from Peninsular Malaysia into Singapore led to a drop in arrivals from the major segments - holiday (-8.8%) and business-related (-15.9%).

Visitor arrivals from India grew by 17.5%. This was mainly due to the school holidays and a temporary closure of a number of European and American airlines which led to an increase in Far East travel. Holiday traffic grew by 36.4% while business-related traffic dropped by 4.8%.

The shift in the Buddha's birthday from April in 2001 to May this year resulted in an increase in arrivals from Hong Kong (+18.6%). Holiday traffic registered a healthy double-digit growth (+59.7%) in May. 

Positive economic and political sentiments within the market boosted arrivals from Philippines (+11.5%). In addition, increased promotional efforts by STB and increased airline seat capacity resulted in a double-digit growth in the holiday segment by 26.8%.

Holiday arrivals from the top 12 markets rose by 8.7%. The main contributors were Hong Kong (+59.7%), China (+40%), India (+36.4%), Philippines (+26.8%), Indonesia (+10.3%) and Australia (+3.5%). Conversely, holiday arrivals from USA (-17.3%), Japan (-16.4%), Malaysia (-8.8%) recorded decreases. 

Overall, business-related1 traffic from the top 12 markets fell by 11.0%. With the exception of China (+9.0%), all major markets registered declines in this segment. Business-related travel from UK (-17.9%), Malaysia (-15.9%), Japan (-14.9%) and Thailand (-14.8%) and Hong Kong (-14.6%) posted significant decreases. 

Hotel Sector Performance in May 2002 (Preliminary Data)

Maximum room-nights: 953,808 (+1.2%); Available room-nights: 893,667 (+0.9%) 

Gross lettings: 653,682 (-4.0%); Paid lettings: 644,101 (-4.1%)

Standard AOR: 73.15% (down 3.7 percentage points over May 2001)

Standard ARR: $127.04 (-9.2%) 

Visitor Arrivals in January - May 2002

Visitor arrivals in January - May dropped by 1.8% over the same period in 2001, to a total of 3,078,402 visitors. 

The 12 largest visitor-generating markets were: