TOURISM arrivals fell again in May, the 12th consecutive month they have done so.

Worse, the spectre of Influenza A (H1N1) has cast a long shadow over an industry that is already reeling from the effects of the global economic downturn, and things look set to get a lot worse before they get better.

Last month, 730,000 tourists visited Singapore, a 13 per cent drop over the same month last year.

The H1N1 factor played a major part in crimping arrivals: Tourists from East Asian countries like China, Korea and Japan, which are among Singapore's key markets, stayed away in droves.

People from these countries are more careful than most about avoiding the new flu bug, having lived through the Sars outbreak in 2003.

Visitors from Japan dropped 30 per cent year-on-year, and the plunge for those from China and Korea was even greater, at 40 per cent.

In its monthly release, the Singapore Tourism Board said: 'The sharper declines in visitor arrivals in May 2009 from markets such as China and Japan can be attributed in part to the global outbreak of Influenza A.'

The effects of H1N1 are not just being felt in the tourism industry.

For instance, at the recently concluded Infocomm Media Business Exchange - billed as Asia's largest technology trade show - Japanese telco giant NTT DoCoMo did not turn up despite having paid for its booth.

A company representative told The Straits Times that it was 'a last-minute decision'.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times