Singapore tourism receipts drop 6.8% in 2015 to S$22b

SINGAPORE'S tourism receipts fell 6.8 per cent year-on-year in 2015 to S$22 billion, even as international visitor arrivals crept up 0.9 per cent to 15.2 million.

The decline in tourism receipts was largely due to a 6 per cent fall in business travel and meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition (BTMICE) visitor arrivals, and an 8 per cent drop in per capita expenditure, said the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on Monday in its Year in Review report.

The 2 per cent growth in leisure visitor arrivals helped to offset the fall in the BTMICE segment.

Of the 15.2 million visitor arrivals last year, 2.73 million came from Indonesia - the largest market in 2015, although it registered a year-on-year drop of 10 per cent.

China followed close behind, with 2.11 million visitor arrivals - a 22 per cent jump from 2014. This, STB said, was due to good growth in Tier 1 and 2 cities' visitor arrivals.

Visitor arrivals from Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Japan took a hit, due to macroeconomic factors such as currency depreciation and an uncertain economic outlook.