Singapore tourist arrivals up in June, surpass one million for fourth straight month

SINGAPORE’S international visitor arrivals climbed to 1.13 million in June, exceeding the one-million mark for the fourth consecutive month and recovering from May’s slight dip.

June’s reading was up from the 1.11 million recorded in the preceding month, based on the latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on Friday (Jul 14). It also more than doubled from the 543,733 visitors recorded in the corresponding month in 2022.

“June’s recovery... was in line with expectations as May’s decline was driven by seasonality effects,” said Wong Xian Yang, head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia at Cushman & Wakefield.

Maybank economist Brian Lee noted that visitor arrivals momentum has slowed over the past two months, compared to Q1. “The recovery in June was relatively modest, with arrivals growing just 1.5 per cent (versus minus 1.4 per cent in May) to regain April levels.”

Tourist arrivals moderated to 72.8 per cent of 2019 levels in June, from 74.8 per cent in May, he said.

Indonesia, for the 15th month, remained the top source of visitors to Singapore, recording 217,051 visitors in June. This marked a jump from the 183,758 tourists in the month before.

The next-largest source country was India, from which 114,588 visitors hailed in June. This was fewer than the 130,438 tourist arrivals in May.

China climbed to clinch the third-place spot in June with 113,290 tourists, up from 95,613 in May.

This was a significant improvement to 42.6 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in June (against 33.7 per cent in May), the strongest by far in the year to date, said Lee. On month, visitors from China jumped 18.5 per cent, offsetting pullbacks from other sources.

“Last month’s China visitor trajectory was unusual compared to recent pre-pandemic periods, when seasonal declines were seen between May and June partly due to the gaokao (annual college exam), with parents less likely to travel in the lead-up to the examinations,” he said.

This could be due to pent-up demand and higher flight capacity, he added, noting that the rebound in Singapore-China flights “stands among the highest in the region”.

OCBC chief economist Selena Ling said: “China outbound visitor arrivals should continue to pick up, notwithstanding recent disappointment about the economic growth momentum in Q2.”

Australia, coming in fourth, posted 90,770 international arrivals, up from 79,699 in May. Malaysia fell to fifth place in June with 85,944 visitors, down from 98,347 in the preceding month.

In the year to date, Singapore has recorded some 6.3 million visitor arrivals; STB expects to hit 12 million to 14 million arrivals in the full year.

Market watchers agreed that tourist arrivals remain on track to meet the expectation.

A stronger increase in visitor arrivals is anticipated for July and August, which are popular travel periods, said Wong and Lee. A Trip.com spokesperson also noted an expected July growth, with the summer school holidays beginning in many countries.