Chinese visitors to Singapore drop

Singapore's international visitor arrivals in the first half of this year fell by 2.8 percent year-on-year, due in part to a decline in the number of Chinese visitors who stay for one day or less, the Singapore Tourism Board said on Tuesday.

Excluding Chinese visitors, Singapore's international tourist arrivals grew by 2.3 percent year-on-year in the same period.

The board said the number of Chinese visitors to Singapore in the first half of the year fell by 30 percent, following the implementation of new tourism rules in China in October.

"In addition, regional events like the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the abduction of Chinese tourists in Sabah and the political unrest in Thailand have all had a dampening effect on Chinese tourism," the board said.

The total number of international visitor arrivals in Singapore in the first half hit 7.5 million. Tourism receipts, however, grew at 5 percent to hit S$6 billion ($4.8 billion).

The gazetted hotel room revenue - gazetted hotels are those declared to be tourist hotels - rose by 8.8 percent to $1.6 billion. Revenue per available room held steady at S$218, as the 1.2 percent decline in the average occupancy rate was offset by a 1.2 percent increase in the average room rate.

China is Singapore's second-largest visitor market. For the first time, the 1.24 million Chinese visitors in the first half of last year overtook Indonesians as the biggest spenders. Chinese spent almost S$1.52 billion, excluding spending on sightseeing and entertainment.

But the Singapore Tourism Board said the decline in Chinese arrivals was mostly from those who stayed for a day or less. In contrast, the number of Chinese visitors who stayed for at least two days jumped by 21 percent to 406,000. This resulted in the average length of stay by Chinese visitors increasing by 56 percent year-on-year to an average of 4.2 days.

"We are heartened to see an increase in Chinese visitors who visit Singapore as a single destination and stay for at least two days. This shows that we have been reaching out to the right target audience and providing them with an experience that they value and enjoy," said Yap Chin Siang, assistant chief executive of the Policy and Planning Group at the Singapore Tourism Board.