Singapore second most favorite destination in Asia for travelers to splurge money

What foreign group do you think tend to be the biggest spenders in Singapore?

Singapore ranks among the top ten global destinations by visitor arrivals and cross-border spending. Among the world’s fastest growing destination cities, Singapore (apart from Tokyo that has recovered strongly following the 2011 disasters) is the highest ranking destination city in a developed market.

This year’s Global Destinations Cities Index is the second installment of the MasterCard research, which is used as a barometer for understanding the global economy and the dynamic flow of commerce across the world. The MasterCard Index of Global Destination Cities ranks cities in terms of the number of their total international visitor arrivals and the cross-border spending by these same visitors in the destination cities, and gives visitor and passenger growth forecasts for 2012. This Index and the accompanying reports are not based on MasterCard volumes or transactional data.

The Index results reveal a sustained growth among emerging market cities with the top ten Asia/Pacific destinations recording a 9.5% growth in visitor arrivals for 2012 and a 15.3% surge in cross-border spending. Singapore1 (4th), Hong Kong (6th) and Kuala Lumpur (10th) feature in the Index’s top ten global cities. To view the Index as an interactive map, please click here.

Cities in Asia/Pacific once again led the charge globally with eight of the top 20 cities by international arrivals, with Bangkok ranked third globally with projected visitors to top 12.2 million visitors this year. Singapore was in fourth rank with 11.8 million visitors, with Hong Kong sixth with 11.1 million visitors, and Kuala Lumpur ranked 10th with 8.1 million visitors expected.

The region also ranked highly on visitor spending with Bangkok ranked third globally with US$19.3 billion expected to be spent by inbound passengers in 2012, a 16.6% jump from last year. Singapore leapt two places to fifth overall with US$12.7 billion, up 12.7% on last year. Seoul moved into the top ten with US$10.6 billion in cross-border spend, an increase of 16.2%, while

The largest number of travelers to Singapore comes from Jakarta, Hong Kong, London, and Manila. Travelers to Singapore from London tend to be the biggest spenders.

Top 3 markets for inbound visitors to Singapore by origin cities
 Rank                                               City                                             Visitor numbers
 1                                                  Jakarta                                                   1,005,000
 2                                              Hong Kong                                                  690,000
3                                            London / Manila                                             616,0002

Table 2: Top 3 markets for cross-border spenders in Singapore by origin cities

Rank                                                    City                                             Expenditure
1                                                     London                                         USD 1383 million
2                                                       Jakarta                                       USD 1328 million
3                                                   Hong Kong                                      USD 867 million