Tourism headwinds to persist in 2015, warns STB

Arrival growth will be flat to moderate.

The headwinds that buffeted the tourism sector in 2014 is expected to persist in 2015, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry S Iswaran warned today.

Speaking at the Tourism Industry Conference 2015, Minister Iswaran noted that visitor arrivals for the first two months of 2015 registered a decline of around 5% compared to the same period in 2014. This follows a 3% dip in overall tourist arrivals in 2014.

“With an uncertain global economic environment, intensifying regional competition, and a relatively strong Singapore dollar, challenges will persist in the near term. For 2015 as a whole, STB expects tourism numbers to grow modestly; between 0 and 3%[1] for visitor arrivals, and between 0 and 2%[2] for tourism receipts,” he said.