Despite vaccinated travel lanes, Singapore tourism recovery will be sluggish without China, India, Asean travel: Watchers

QUARANTINE-FREE border reopening to fully vaccinated arrivals from select markets could boost Singapore visitor numbers in the last quarter of the year - yet the recovery of the tourism sector will also hinge on openness to travel from nearby countries, watchers told The Business Times.

Hotel occupancy rates and revenue per available room (RevPAR) rebounded to year-to-date highs in September but visitor arrivals remain low compared with pre-pandemic levels despite broad-based month-on-month growth, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) figures showed.

As such, all eyes are on the recovery in travel from Asean and India which are not yet included in Singapore's vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) with 13 countries in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.