Official data indicate that Singapore welcomed almost 15.5 million foreign visitors in the first 10 months of this year, 7.14 percent more than in the corresponding period last year. Figures compiled by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) show that the city attracted more people from all its main sources of foreign visitors, the fastest growth being in the number of visitors from South Asia. The STB data indicate that in the first 10 months the number of visitors from the biggest source market Southeast Asia, grew to nearly 5.4 million arrivals, 5.5 percent more than in the corresponding period last year. The number of visitors from the second-largest source, Greater China, increased by 7.45 percent year-on-year to about 3.76 million in the first 10 months of the year. These two groups represented about half of the city’s tourism arrivals in October. Most of the Greater China travellers – nearly 3.0 million – were from mainland China, an increase of 8.27 percent from the prior-year period.
The number of arrivals from the third-biggest source, South Asia, grew by 11.65 percent in the first 10 months of the year to nearly 1.46 million. And the arrivals from number from the fourth-largest source, Northeast Asia, increased by 3.27 percent to almost 1.23 million, the STB data indicate. With two months’ data left to report, Singapore is on track to report a new record for tourism arrivals. Last year, Singapore saw a 6.2-percent increase in tourist volume. The country’s 17.4 million tourist arrivals for 2017 set a record and included about 3.23 million visits from Chinese travellers.
The Singapore government licensed two casino resorts in 2010: Resorts World Sentosa, operated by Genting Singapore Ltd; and Marina Bay Sands, run by a unit of U.S.-based operator Las Vegas Sands Corp. Two of the aims of the casino liberalisation policy were to expand Singapore’s gross domestic product by boosting the number of inbound tourists and maximising their spending.
