Singapore Tourism has reported a second consecutive year of record performance.
The destination saw income from tourism increase by 3.9% in 2017 to S$26.8 billion with an incease in arrivals from across its top ten source markets.
Singapore said it also saw increased visitor spending from these markets including China, South Korea, the US and the UK.
Between January and September last year, tourism income from UK visitors was up 24%, from the US 22% and China 10%.
Overall visitor arrivals increased by 6.2% to 17.4 million, with 13 of the top 15 markets showing growth.
Lionel Yeo, chief executive of Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said: “STB is pleased to report a second consecutive year of record tourism performance.
The combined efforts of STB and our industry partners yielded strong results, against a context of better-than-expected global economic recovery, continued growth in Asia-Pacific travel and increased flight and cruise connectivity to Singapore.
“Together with significant initiatives to support industry innovation and competitiveness, we made excellent progress in 2017 towards our vision of quality tourism growth.”
The top three largest markets for visitor arrivals were China, Indonesia, and India. India saw the highest growth rate of 16% and, together with China (+13%), contributed to the bulk of the growth in visitor arrivals.
Vietnam visitor numbers were up 13% propelling the market into the top 10 market for the first time. Visitor arrivals from Thailand and Hong Kong saw declines.
Darren Tan, managing director of inbound travel agency World Express Group, said: “We saw an over 15% year-on-year growth in our US arrivals in 2017, with most of the growth coming during the year-end winter season.
“We see mainly two types of clients – those here on fly-cruise programmes and leisure travellers who came here on tour groups or for individual travel.
“The growth could be attributed to more in-market promotions driven by both STB and the private sector, and good value in airfares and hotel rates. We are optimistic that 2018 will be an even stronger year for the US market.”