Singapore’s tourist arrivals extend decline, dip to 1.13 million in October

SINGAPORE’S international visitor arrivals slipped for the third consecutive month to 1,125,948 in October, based on the latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

This was a nudge lower than the 1,130,757 visitors posted in September – but still 37.8 per cent higher than the 816,833 visitors recorded in October 2022.

Tourism arrival patterns this year have reflected seasonal trends – a boost in July and August from inbound Chinese arrivals, followed by a tapering in September and October. Such patterns were also observed pre-pandemic, noted DBS analyst Geraldine Wong.

Indonesia was again the top source of visitors to Singapore, with 180,881 tourists visiting from the country. This marked a jump from the 175,601 arrivals in September.

The next-largest source country was China, from which 122,764 visitors hailed in October, decreasing from 135,677 a month earlier.

Wong noted nuances in the Chinese outbound footprint in recent months as a result of safety concerns over travelling to Thailand and Japan.

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“This may have diverted some footprint into Singapore instead in the immediate term,” she said. But she believes that this was not enough to offset seasonality patterns. “News-flow driven sentiments and trends tend to fade away quickly,” she added.

Wong also noted that many Chinese spent Golden Week – Oct 1 to Oct 7 – travelling domestically, disappointing hoteliers hoping for more Chinese demand.

Overtaking Malaysia and Australia to clinch the third-place spot was India, from which there were 94,332 visitors to Singapore in October. The figure was up from 81,014 in the preceding month.

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Malaysia, which came in fourth, posted 88,641 international arrivals, down from 89,384 in September. Australia, which rounded out the top five, was the source of 88,032 visitors, down from 104,497 in the preceding month.

In the year to date, Singapore has recorded some 11.3 million visitor arrivals, against the 12 million to 14 million arrivals that STB expects to hit in the full year.