Singapore welcomed a total of 1,125,948 international visitor arrivals in October, up 37.8% on the same month last year although slightly down on the 1,130,757 who arrived in September. It also represents the third straight month in which sequential arrival numbers have declined.
As per a report by The Straits Times, DBS Bank analyst Geraldine Wong said the month-on-month decline reflected traditional seasonality, with inbound tourist arrivals from China providing a boost in July and August before slowing in the ensuing months.
This is despite suggestions that safety concerns over travel to Thailand and Japan may have swayed a few more Chinese tourists to visit Singapore instead.
“This may have diverted some footprint into Singapore instead in the immediate term,” Wong said, although “News flow-driven sentiments and trends tend to fade away quickly.”
By source market, Indonesia led the way again, providing 180,881 visitors compared to 175,601 in September. China was next with 122,764, down from the 135,677 who visited Singapore in September.
India provided 94,332, up from 81,014, with Malaysia (88,641) and Australia (88,032) rounding out the top five.
Despite the recent slowdown, Singapore remains on track to comfortably reach its annual forecast figure of between 12 million and 14 million arrivals this year, with 11.3 million visitors having entered the country between January and October.
