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SINGAPORE: The number of visitors to Singapore last year hit 9.7 million, exceeding an earlier forecast of between 9 million and 9.5 million. But it is still a year-on-year decline of 4.3 per cent.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) gave the figures at a news conference on Tuesday.
Singapore started to see more visitors arriving from the second half of last year when the economy was turning around. In fact, for December alone, visitor arrivals to Singapore grew 9.4 per cent year-on-year to reach 971,000, the highest monthly level ever recorded.
For the whole of last year, the number of visitors from two countries registered a double-digit growth. Visitor arrivals from Malaysia grew 18 per cent, while those from Vietnam grew 11 per cent.
Indonesia led the top five markets in 2009, with 1,745,000 visitors to Singapore. The others included China (937,000), Australia (830,000) and Malaysia (764,000). These markets made up over half of total visitor arrivals to Singapore last year.
The STB attributed this partly to aggressive airline and marketing promotions.
STB chief executive, Aw Kah Peng, said: "We're optimistic that it would continue because the global outlook on the economy is better and also we have a number of significant developments this year.
"The opening of integrated resorts, major events like F1 which will continue to happen, the Youth Olympic Games which will take place in August, some new initiatives that we've just announced like the Asian Fashion Exchange.
"As the consumer sentiment strengthens, and particularly in Asia, we do expect that this momentum can be sustained."
Tourism receipts between January and December last year registered S$12.4 billion, similar to the levels seen in 2006. Although the number is at the high end of the initial forecast of between S$12 billion and S$12.5 billion for 2009, it is still a 19 per cent decline compared to the same period in 2008.
The top markets for tourism receipts included Indonesia (S$2,123 million), China (S$1,403 million) and Australia (S$934 million). These markets accounted for 49% of total tourism receipts in 2009.
For the hotel industry, the average occupancy rate for 2009 stood at 76 per cent, a year-on-year drop of 4.6 percentage points.
Last year, Singapore saw an additional 2,740 hotel rooms in the industry. That brings the total hotel room inventory in Singapore to above 41,000.
Anna Tong, general manager of Klapsons The Boutique Hotel, said: "2010, being a year that everyone is looking forward to, we are looking at positive signs. Having events like the F1 and the Youth Olympics... help to put the cream on top of the cake, and looking at also in terms of the corporate business, that's also bringing optimism into the industry."
STB said the business travel sector is picking up for this year. More corporate travellers are returning to Singapore after the global financial crisis.
With conferences like Communic and Broadcast Asia as well as Food Hotel Asia being held later this year, hotels like Klapsons are expecting its occupancy rate to improve, thereby boosting the overall industry.
For the cruise sector, the STB said 2009 saw a record high of 1.14 million cruise passengers. Last year, 94 ships made more than 900 ship calls, which is a growth of 16 per cent year-on-year.
The boost in numbers is due to greater variety of cruise offerings like Star Cruises' Superstar Virgo, the Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas and AzamaraQuest.
- CNA/ir/sc
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