Singapore Visitor Arrivals in January - June 2002

Visitor arrivals to Singapore in January - June 2002 dropped by 1.7% over the same period in 2001, to a total of 3,680,504 visitors.

The 12 largest visitor-generating markets were:

Total Arrivals: 3,680,504 (-1.7%)

1. Indonesia 624,513 (0.0%) 7. South Korea 195,795 (+6.5%) 
2. P R China 336,226 (+43.5%) 8. India 192,963 (+6.6%) 
3. Japan 320,119 (-21.0%) 9. USA 166,942 (-11.5%) 
4. Malaysia 268,801 (-6.0%) 10. Hong Kong 135,599 (-4.9%) 
5. Australia 263,672 (-0.7%) 11. Thailand 135,380 (+0.9%) 
6. UK 234,393 (-0.7%) 12. Taiwan 107,847 (-4.1%)

- The stable political environment and stronger Indonesian Rupiah assisted in sustaining arrivals from Indonesia. Holiday and business-related arrivals grew by 1.3% and 2.3% respectively.

- China's healthy performance (+43.5%) is largely due to the increase in land arrivals (+89.0%) and the aggressive tactical promotions on events such as Singapore Food Festival (SFF), Fashion Festival (FF) and the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) that led to a double-digit growth in holiday traffic (50.6%). Business-related traffic grew by 12.2%.

- The uncertain employment and economic outlook continued to dampen arrivals from Japan (-21.0%). Holiday and business-related traffic declined by 26.6% and 11.2% respectively.

- Malaysia registered a fall of 6.0% in arrivals, largely attributed to the uncertain economic outlook and the weaker Malaysian Ringgit. This led to a drop in holiday (-6.9%) and business-related (-12.2%) traffic. 

- Visitor arrivals from South Korea registered a cumulative growth of 6.5% in the first half of 2002, contributed by an increase in corporate incentive travel and tactical promotions on SFF. Holiday and business-related traffic grew by 4.9% and 3.1% respectively.

- Visitor arrivals from India grew by 6.6%. The temporary suspension of flights by European and American airlines led to more Indian visitors diverting to the Far East. Holiday traffic from India grew by 24.8% while business-related traffic dropped by 3.6%.

- Holiday arrivals from the top 12 markets declined marginally by 0.1%. Holiday travel from China (+50.6%) and India (+24.8%) posted significant increases. Other markets that registered increases in this segment were South Korea (+4.9%), Thailand (+1.4%) and Indonesia (+1.3%). Conversely, markets which declined were Japan (-26.6%), USA (-23.1%), Malaysia (-6.9%), Taiwan (-4.5%).

- For the first half of 2002, business-related traffic from the top 12 markets fell by 5.3%. With the exception of China (+12.2%), South Korea (+3.1%) and Indonesia (+2.3%), all major markets registered declines in this segment. Business-related travel from Hong Kong (-13.6%), Malaysia (-12.2%), Japan (-11.2%) and Taiwan (-10.9%) decreased.

*Hotel Sector Performance in January - June 2002

- Maximum room-nights: 5,557,860 (+1.2%); Available room-nights: 5,204,537 (+0.5%) 

- Gross lettings: 3,876,929 (-4.4%); Paid lettings: 3,814,855 (-4.6%)

- Standard AOR: 74.49% (down 3.8 percentage points over January - June 2001)

- Standard ARR: $128.82 (-5.7%)

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AOR = Average Occupancy Rate

ARR = Average Room Rate
*Figures for the Hotel Sector Performance is updated as at 15 July 2002