Singapore tourism arrivals in January fell by 8.1 percent yearly to 1.5 million, according to official data, amongst a sharp decline in its top visitor market: China.
Total Chinese arrivals during the first month of the year were down by 27.8 percent yearly, to just 271,960. The number of Chinese overnight visitors fell by 25.5 percent year-on-year, to 192,040, with the average length of stay falling by 4.5 percent to 3.5 days.
This comes as overnight visitation to the Merlion city fell overall by 7 percent, to just 1.11 million and the average length of stay retracted by 2.6 percent to 3.43 days.
Singapore’s two second-largest visitation markets in January, Indonesia and Australia. Indonesia visitation fell by 13. Percent to 218,440 visitors, while that from Australia dropped by just 0.4 percent to 140,780 visitors.
Malaysian visitation, meanwhile, rebounded by 14 percent yearly in January, to 116,680, with overnight visitors increasing by 7.1 percent to 54,000. However, the average length of stay for Malaysian visitors was just 1.88 nights, down by 6.3 percent year-on-year.
South Korea was the seventh-largest visitor source market for Singapore in January, with 69,230 visitors, down by 12.7 percent year-on-year.
The tourism numbers were also influenced by the timing of Chinese New Year, which fell fully in February this year.
In the January to September period of last year, Singapore saw its highest-ever tourism receipts, totaling SG$23.9 billion ($18.82 billion) – a yearly rise of 6.5 percent.
The Singapore Tourism Board is expecting that tourism receipts for 2025 will be its projections of SG$29 billion ($22.83 billion) to SG$30.5 billion ($24.01 billion). The results are scheduled for release in the second quarter of this year.
