Singapore hotels’ average room rate edges up in November, but overall takings dip
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Singapore’s hotel performance was recorded against a backdrop of declining tourist arrivals, as the number of visitors dropped 6.1 per cent month on month to 1.2 million in November.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Elysia Tan
SINGAPORE - Singapore hotels’ average room rate (ARR) grew slightly to $273.11 in November, up 0.5 per cent from $271.71 in October, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) data showed on Dec 30. It was also up 1.2 per cent year on year.
Revenue per available room (RevPAR) similarly rose 1 per cent to $224.45 in November, from $222.28 in October. Year on year, it grew 5.7 per cent.
But overall, room revenue for the second-to-last month of the year slipped to $430.4 million, against the previous month’s $440.1 million, even as it was up 7.4 per cent on the year.
This came as available room nights for the month declined to 1.9 million, from nearly two million in October, though this was up 1.7 per cent year on year.
Average occupancy rate, on the other hand, increased slightly to 82.2 per cent from 81.8 per cent in October. On a yearly basis, it was 3.5 percentage points higher.
Singapore’s hotel performance was recorded against a backdrop of declining tourist arrivals, as the number of visitors dropped 6.1 per cent month on month to 1.2 million in November, from 1.3 million in October. Year on year, arrivals were up 12.2 per cent.
But the latest inflow of tourists brought full-year international visitor arrivals to 15.1 million in the year to date, breaching the lower end of STB’s projection of between 15 million and 16.5 million for the full year announced at the Tourism Industry Conference in 2024.
Across hotel categories, ARR performance was mixed month on month. Rates improved marginally to $322.28 (from $318) in the upscale segment and $139.65 (from $134.46) in the economy segment. However, they decreased slightly to $641.72 (from $644.18) in the luxury segment and $209.60 (from $210.44) in the mid-tier segment.
In the year to date, Singapore’s ARR was up 1.9 per cent year on year to $279.74. Overall room revenue grew 11.8 per cent to $4.9 billion. RevPAR rose 3 per cent to $230.44, and the average occupancy rate climbed to 82.4 per cent, from 81.5 per cent in the corresponding period in 2023.
Tourist markets
Indonesia surpassed China to become the top source of tourists to Singapore in November, with 194,441 visitors, up from 183,714 in October.
China, now second on the list, was the origin of 174,748 visitors in November, sliding from 234,527 in the preceding month.
Malaysia, the third-largest source of visitors, was the source of 101,918 tourists to the Republic in November, down from 103,432 in the preceding month.
There were 92,902 tourists from India, which remained in fourth place in the list of visitors, though visitor arrivals fell from 102,228 in the month before. In November, 92,661 visitors hailed from Australia, also slipping from 100,935 in October. THE BUSINESS TIMES
