Singapore hotel performance, tourist arrivals tick up in Q1 despite Iran war

[SINGAPORE] The Republic’s hotel rates and international visitor arrivals picked up year on year in the first quarter of 2026 despite the Iran war, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) data showed on Thursday (Apr 30).

January generally saw a small dip, while February improved due to seasonal factors, namely the timing of Chinese New Year.

For Q1 2026, hotels posted an average room rate (ARR) of S$274.96, up 1.6 per cent on a yearly basis.

January’s ARR was S$269.81 (down 1 per cent), February’s reached S$289.41 (up 5.4 per cent), and March’s came in at S$265.80 (up 0.5 per cent).

Revenue per available room (RevPAR) also climbed, up 4.8 per cent to S$228.45 for the quarter.

Similar to the ARR trends, February was the best performing month (up 10.3 per cent at S$253.97), while January recorded a small decline (down 1.2 per cent at S$220.41).

The average occupancy rate was 83.09 per cent in Q1, up from 80.54 per cent in the year-ago period. February was again the best performer, and January, the main drag.

Available room nights grew 2.3 per cent to 5.9 million in Q1, rising in all three months.

Overall room revenue, which reflects room supply, climbed 7.1 per cent to S$1.36 billion for the quarter. Takings slipped in January (-0.3 per cent), but reported double-digit growth (13.3 per cent) in February. In March, room revenue was up 8.9 per cent.

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More visitors

The hotel performance for the quarter was in line with the trends in international visitor arrivals.

Tourist arrivals increased 2.8 per cent year on year to 4.4 million in Q1, with two of the three months charting growth.

January saw fewer international visitors, with an 8.1 per cent fall to 1.5 million. STB attributed this decline to seasonal adjustments due to the timing of Chinese New Year this year, which led to a decline in arrivals from Mainland China and South Korea, similar to past years.

But Malaysia, the fourth-largest source market for the month, recorded strong year-on-year growth, at 14 per cent.

STB noted several possible factors for this growth. These include a favourable exchange rate that led to the Ringgit strengthening to a record high in January, as well as increased flight capacity, with Batik Air (Malaysia) launching new flights from Ipoh, Penang and Kuala Lumpur in December 2025.

“STB also ran campaigns with travel partners such as AirAsia, ShopBack and Trip.com to capture bookings for outbound travel from Malaysian visitors across the New Year period,” it added.

Meanwhile, tourist arrivals were up 9 per cent at 1.5 million in February, with arrivals from mainland China in particular jumping 61.3 per cent on year.

This was driven by the shift in Chinese New Year peak travel and the record-long nine-day holiday, said STB.

Notably, visitor numbers from Taiwan also recorded a 64.6 per cent increase.

This was boosted by the Chinese New Year holiday, Taiwan’s Peace Memorial Day public holiday and winter school holidays, STB said.

It added that higher flight capacity and in-market campaigns with online travel agencies also helped raise Singapore’s profile among Taiwanese travellers.

Finally, while major conflict in the Middle East began in end-February, in Singapore, March marked the highest year-on-year growth within the quarter (10.1 per cent). This came even as the city-state still saw fewer visitors in absolute terms (1.4 million), against the preceding two months.

Indonesia surpassed China to become the top contributor to Singapore’s tourist arrivals that month. Arrivals from Indonesia and Malaysia in March – where there were long public holidays – rose more than 20 per cent.

For the quarter as a whole, China remained the top source market with 913,373 visitors in Q1, or a 9.8 per cent increase on year.

The second-largest source market, Indonesia, was the origin of 625,846 tourist arrivals, but this marked a 2.3 per cent year-on-year fall.

Other top source countries were Indonesia (338,790), Australia (311,679) and India (246,944), though India marked a year-on-year fall (-5.6 per cent).

More muted outlook?

The first quarter’s expansion in international visitor arrivals demonstrates Singapore’s “underlying strength and destination appeal”, said STB chief executive Melissa Ow.

But she warned that volatile market conditions will likely affect the tourism sector in the coming months, as rising airfares and economic uncertainty weigh on travel demand.

“The Singapore Tourism Board is working with our industry partners to adapt our strategies amidst an evolving global environment,” she added.

Ow highlighted efforts to drive demand, including the hosting of major meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions events, ranging from sustainability or artificial intelligence focused conventions to Herbalife Extravaganza 2026, Singapore’s largest corporate meeting and incentive group to date, with 25,000 delegates expected,

On the leisure front, she flagged concerts by K-pop group i-dle and English collective Massive Attack, which is returning to the Republic after more than a decade.