Singapore Reports Q1 2014 Visitor Arrivals

In Q1 2014, tourism receipts in Singapore grew 5% year-on-year to Sin$6.0 billion while International Visitor Arrivals (IVAs) held steady at 3.9 million.

Growth in tourism receipts was driven by sightseeing, entertainment and gaming (+19%), accommodation (+2%) and other tourism receipts components (+5%). However, declines in spending on shopping (-6%) and F&B (-1%) were observed in Q1 2014.

Spending by the BTMICE segment (+4%) also increased after reported corporate cutbacks last year. Visitor arrivals in Q1 2014 were mainly impacted by the 14% decline in arrivals from P.R. China due to the continuing impact of the tourism law that was introduced on 1 October 2013.

Excluding visitor arrivals from P.R. China, IVA grew 2.8% year-on-year. Markets which enjoyed strong growth in IVA include Indonesia (+6%), South Korea (+17%) and Vietnam (+13%).

Excluding expenditure on Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming (SEG), P.R. China (S$800 million), Indonesia (S$658 million) and India (S$284 million) were the top three tourism receipt generating markets in Q1 2014, and made up 39% of tourism receipts (excluding SEG).

Of the top 10 markets, Japan (+11%), UK (+11%) and Thailand (+8%) had the highest year-on-year growth in tourism receipts. All three markets were boosted by increased BTMICE traffic in Q1 2014. The per capita spending of business tourism travellers from Japan and the United Kingdom also recorded double-digit increases.

Indonesia (-12%), India (-3%), Philippines (-3%) and P.R. China (-1%) registered declines in tourism receipts (excluding SEG) compared to the same period last year. Indonesia’s tourism receipts performance was impacted by a drop in per capita spend while India’s tourism receipts was primarily driven down by a fall in arrivals and per capita spend of Leisure visitors. The decline in Philippines’ tourism receipts, on the other hand, was mainly led by the decline in visitor arrivals from the BTMICE segment. Despite fewer arrivals from PR China (-14%) in Q1 2014 in light of the tourism laws imposed last October, the impact on China’s tourism receipts was less substantial as it fell by a marginal 1% from Q1 2013.

Singapore’s International Visitor Arrivals held steady at 3.9 million from the same quarter last year. Indonesia (749,000), P.R. China (557,000), Malaysia (288,000), Australia (270,000), and Japan (215,000) were Singapore’s top five international visitor-generating markets from January to March 2014. These markets accounted for 54% of total IVAs for the first quarter.

Visitor arrivals from South Korea (+17%) and Vietnam (+13%) recorded double-digit positive growth rates from January to March 2014. The growth for South Korea was boosted by an appreciation of the Korean Won, which aided outbound travel (+6%), and the introduction of Scoot as the only low-cost carrier plying the Singapore-Seoul route from June 2013. Outbound travel from Vietnam has also increased in recent years as travel as a lifestyle activity gains popularity among the Vietnamese. Conversely, arrivals from P.R. China continued to slow down in the first quarter (-14%), albeit at a lesser rate than Q4 2013 (-31%).

Gazetted hotel room revenue for Q1 2014 came in at S$0.8 billion, a strong 12% year-on-year growth. ARR stood at S$261 in Q1 2014, a 2.7% rise year-on-year. ARR for all hotel tiers increased from Q1 2013, driven by growth in the Luxury segment. The Average Occupancy Rate stood at 86%, a marginal 0.4 percentage points decline over the same period last year. The stronger performance in ARR attributed to a 2.2% increase in RevPAR to S$224 in Q1 2014. The Luxury tier recorded the strongest growth rate at 11.9%.