SINGAPORE’S international visitor arrivals slipped for the second straight month to 1.13 million in September, as seasonal travel demand continued to drag on growth.

September’s reading was a notch down from the 1.31 million recorded in August, based on data released by the Singapore Tourism Board on Wednesday (Oct 18). But it was still 44.6 per cent higher than the 782,215 visitors recorded a year earlier, in September 2022.

Visitor arrivals tend to cool off after the peak travel periods of July and August, said Wong Xian Yang, head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia at Cushman & Wakefield. This trend has been consistent since before the pandemic, based on visitor arrival data between 2017 and 2019.

In September, Indonesia overtook China as the top source of visitors to Singapore, with 175,601 tourists visiting the country. This was up from the 167,854 tourists that visited in the preceding month.

China came in second with 135,677 visitors in September. This was less than the 214,491 visitors recorded in the previous month.

The fall in Chinese visitors was also in line with pre-pandemic seasonal trends, noted Wong. Nevertheless, China’s economic slowdown and heightened travel costs could have also had an impact on spending and outbound travel appetite.

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“Visitation from China is likely to remain slightly subdued until the mood of the domestic residential market starts to turn positive,” said Govinda Singh, executive director of hotels and leisure for Asia at Colliers International.

“Until then, Chinese travellers will tend to stay closer to home, with Hong Kong benefiting,” he added.

China used to be Singapore’s top source of inbound tourists before the pandemic. The country regained the top spot in July this year, and held it for two consecutive months before being dethroned again in September.

Australia was the third-largest source market in September, with 104,497 arrivals. This was higher than the 80,378 visitors the month prior.

Malaysia took the fourth spot with 89,384 visitors, and India fifth with 81,014. In August, Malaysia recorded 87,895 visitors, while India had 83,556 tourists in Singapore.