Nearly 14,700 travellers visited Singapore in November: STB

Tourists are trickling back amid a gradual reopening of borders but numbers are still a far cry from the levels of 2019.

Arrivals hit 14,676 in November, up 9.5 per cent from October, with around 25 per cent hailing from China.

As welcome as the increase is, it is still a fraction of the 1.53 million visitors in the same period in 2019, noted the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) yesterday.

Arrivals bottomed out at 750 in April after the entry of short-term visitors was suspended as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded.

Meanwhile, industry-wide hotel room revenue came in at $66.3 million in November, down 0.6 per cent on October, and 82 per cent below the same month in 2019.

The Singapore Hotel Association estimates that 90 per cent of room revenue is generated by international visitors.

These are defined as people who spend less than a year in Singapore and excludes returning citizens, permanent residents and pass holders, Malaysians arriving by land, non-resident air and sea crew and air transit passengers.

The average occupancy rate stood at 53.8 per cent in November compared with 88.9 per cent the year earlier and down by 3.8 percentage points from October.

Standard average room rates increased to $144.6 in November, from $138.2 in October but 33.2 per cent below the same month in 2019.

Hotel revenue per available room was $77.8 in November against $79.7 in October, a fall of 59.6 per cent year on year.