Visitor arrivals up 20.4%

Visitor arrivals up 20.4% to record 938,000 in April

Visitor arrivals to Singapore grew by 20.4 per cent on-year to reach 938,000 in April.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said the figure was the highest ever recorded in the month of April and was the fifth consecutive month of record arrivals.

Fourteen out of the top 15 markets registered positive growth last month, with visitors from Thailand, Malaysia and India posting the highest growth.

STB attributed the growth in visitor arrivals to the continued improvement of the economic climate.

Visitors from Thailand increased by 57.5 per cent, while visitors from Malaysia and India grew 50.8 per cent and 30.8 per cent, respectively.

Singapore's top five visitor-generating markets in April were Indonesia (with 163,000 visitors), China (92,000), Malaysia (77,000), India (73,000) and Australia (70,000).

There were also improvements in hotel room revenue as well as the average occupancy and room rates.

Hotels saw an average 85.0 per cent occupancy rate in April, up 15 per cent from last year.

Hotel room revenue increased 36.5 per cent to an estimated S$158 million last month, while the average room rate also rose 12.2 per cent on-year to reach S$211.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-