Singapore sees slow year for tourism

The STB yesterday forecast that 15.2 million to 15.7 million foreign tourists would visit the city-state this year, compared with 15.2 million last year, which was up by only 0.9 per cent from 2014.
Meanwhile, tourism revenue is expected at between 22.0 billion and 22.4 billion Singapore dollars, an increase of 0-2 per cent from last year’s S$22 billion (Bt563 billion), which was a 6.8-per-cent decline from the previous year.
Sherleen Seah, the STB’s area director for Thailand and Myanmar, said Singapore’s tourism industry would continue to face many negative factors such as the sluggish global economy, China’s economic reforms, Europe’s financial woes, and tourism competition regionally.
She said the agency’s plans for Thailand this year included promoting quality tourism by encouraging travellers to extend their average length of stay in Singapore, particularly families and business travellers.
“Combining business and leisure trips [was] a trend in 2015, especially among millennials,” Seah said.
“We foresee that this group of travellers will look for things to do in Singapore to either unwind or broaden their horizons with a tendency of extending their stay in the country. Hence STB has secured many significant events that will attract travellers with diverse areas of interests such as the recent Singapore Airshow, Singapore Design Week, the Singapore Grand Prix, Fashion Steps Out, and the Singapore Media Festival.”
The STB plans to enhance Singapore’s attractiveness to Thais through partnerships with airlines and travel agents, by promoting relevant and appealing Singapore lifestyle activities in key target segments such as families and business travelers, and by penetrating new regions beyond Greater Bangkok.
Last year, more than 516,000 Thais travelled to Singapore. Half of them were business travellers. The Thailand market grew by 2 per cent last year, a top performer among the Asean countries.
The STB also indicated in a report that Thailand remained one of the key markets for Singapore, contributing 3.4 per cent of the total number of visitors.
This year, the STB will hold travel fairs in Chiang Mai in the North and in Hat Yai in South. It will also focus more on family travellers.
Currently, 11 airlines operate a total of 347 flights per week between Thailand and Singapore. About 200 flights are operated by low-cost airlines.
Singapore is promoting the cruise business by developing sea connectivity with other countries in Southeast Asia as the region has 25,000 islands, many more than the Caribbean’s 7,000.
According to Lionel Yeo, the STB’s chief executive, Singapore is encouraged by the upturn in visitor arrivals from May onwards that led to positive growth for the whole of 2015.
He said the 2-per-cent growth in leisure-visitor arrivals in 2015 helped offset the decline in business-visitor arrivals. This shows that Singapore remains attractive as a leisure destination.
The tourism sector in Singapore shrank in 2009 because of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic.