Tourism spend up 15%, arrivals rise 4% in Q1 2017

TOURISM spend in Singapore expanded by 15 per cent year on year to S$6.4 billion in the first quarter of 2017, while arrivals grew 4 per cent to 4.3 million.

"The strong growth in tourism receipts (TR) was driven by higher visitor arrivals and growth in all major TR components except sightseeing, entertainment & gaming, which held steady," said the Singapore Tourism Board. Spending on shopping, in particular, jumped by 38 per cent.

China was the top source market for visitors as arrivals from the populous country shot up 14 per cent. Indonesia and Malaysia rounded off the top three, with growth of 2 per cent and one per cent respectively. Arrivals from Hong Kong (-29 per cent), Thailand (-7 per cent) and South Korea (-5 per cent) posted year-on-year declines.

Meanwhile, hotel room revenue edged down 1.3 per cent to S$0.8 billion for the quarter under review. Average occupancy rate grew by 1.3 per cent to 86 per cent while revenue per available room (RevPar) declined by 1.2 per cent to S$199, weighed down by a lower average room rate (ARR). ARR fell 2.8 per cent to S$233.