Singapore’s tourist arrivals dip to 1.36 million in April, after March’s Taylor Swift-led high

SINGAPORE - Singapore’s international visitor arrivals slipped in April from March’s Taylor Swift-induced high, marking the lowest number of arrivals in the year so far.

The Republic welcomed 1.36 million tourists in April, based on the latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) on May 16. This was a fall from 1.48 million in March, when American pop star Taylor Swift performed six shows at the National Stadium, and K-pop group Shinee also staged a one-night performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

It was also a weaker performance than the first two months of the year, when Singapore recorded 1.44 million visitors each month.

British band Coldplay played several shows here in January, while Chinese New Year celebrations fell in February, along with the start of the Singapore-China mutual 30-day visa-free scheme.

Indonesia overtook China to become the top source of arrivals in April, with 243,893 visitors, up from 205,034 in March.

China was in second place with 220,444 tourists, down from 247,725 in the preceding month.

India took the third spot with 106,703 visitors, up from 97,049 in March.

Rounding out the top five were Malaysia – from which 106,191 travellers originated, versus 120,256 in the preceding month – and Australia, with 96,892 tourists in April, against March’s 91,553.

The Philippines, which was the fourth-largest source of visitors in March, took sixth place in April.

In the year to date, Singapore reported 5.71 million international visitor arrivals, which is about 90 per cent of the figures for the same period in 2019 before the pandemic.

At STB’s Tourism Industry Conference earlier in May, its chief executive Melissa Ow said the agency expects 15 million to 16.5 million tourist arrivals in 2024, and $27.5 billion to $29 billion in tourism receipts. The upper bound of the forecast, if achieved, would be a new record.

THE BUSINESS TIMES