First half of 2006 sees high spending among Southeast Asian tourists in Singapore

Global Refund, a market leader in tax refund services and financial services for the merchant market, has released figures which demonstrate that Singapore’s shopping industry is indeed thriving due to tourists arriving from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. Findings show that from January to July this year, Indonesia topped tourist spending with an average expenditure of Sin$1,252 per shopping occasion, with buys that constituted almost 30% of total tourist purchases.

Amongst the top spenders , Filipinos have assumed the position as the tenth largest group of tourist shoppers. They account for three percent of total in-store sales, replacing their counterparts from Hong Kong the previous year. The observation commensurates with tourist arrivals from the Philippines which have risen by 24% over the same period last year.

As with 2005, the watches and jewellery sector – whose shops account for almost 40% of tourists’ favourite haunts – remained the top attraction for tourist shoppers. Tourists are also shopping for more eyewear, hearing aids and optometric products, which replaced home and garden products as one of the top ten retail categories.

Rodney Teo, Managing Director of Global Refund Singapore said, “We’re very encouraged by these figures as we believe the services offered by Global Refund have aided in sustaining the high volumes in tourism spending. By enabling them to easily claim their GST refund, tourists are realising the benefits of shopping in Singapore. We foresee similar observations in the second half of the year and hope retailers will take advantage of tourists’ spending habits.”

See other recent news regarding: Shopping, Duty Free, Singapore, Tax, Refund