Singapore tourism receipts hit record high of S$22.3b in 2011

Latest sector performance report reveals two growing Asian markets.

The Philippines and Japan saw the highest percentage change in tourism receipts over 2010, according to the Singapore Tourism Board annual report 2011/2012.

The tourism receipts for the Philippines (+34%) grew due to a strong increase in visitor arrivals and hotel accommodation expenditure.

Meanwhile, affected by weakened economic conditions, USA and UK saw a decline in their respective shares of tourism receipts. Nevertheless, as a whole, Europe’s tourism receipts still grew at 4 per cent.

Overall, Singapore’s top five tourism receipts generating markets from January to December 2011 are as follows:

1. Indonesia (S$2,853 million)
2. P R China (S$2,110 million)
3. India (S$1,103 million)
4. Australia (S$1,095 million)
5. Malaysia (S$893 million)

The report added that international visitor arrivals to Singapore increased by 13 per cent from the previous year to a new record of 13.2 million in 2011.

"Asia remained a strong visitor source market for 2011, contributing 76 per cent of total international visitor arrivals. The international visitor arrivals was also well diversified across the region, with Indonesia (2,592,000), P R China (1,578,000), Malaysia (1,141,000), Australia (956,000) and India (869,000) being Singapore’s top five international visitor-generating markets for the period of January to December 2011. These markets accounted for 54 per cent of total international visitor arrivals for the period," STB said.