The Singapore Tourism Board reported that in the first half of the year visitors made 7.5 million trips to Singapore and tourism revenue totaled 11.8 billion RMB, a slight increase of 2%. However the number of Chinese visitors plunged 30% with only 871 thousand trips.
Last October the Chinese government banned price slashing in the form of the so-called “No-Charge Tour” that local operators were offering at the time which affected the number of Chinese tourists. Other factors such as the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the kidnapping of Chinese tourists in Sabah Malaysia, and the civil unrest in Thailand have also contributed to the low numbers of Chinese tourist to the region.
Tourism revenue from Chinese and number of Chinese tourists for the second quarter this year have both dropped. The number of tourists is down 6% with 3.6 million less trips and tourism revenue is down 3% with 5.6 billion RMB less compared with the same period last year.
Drop in retail revenue affects total tourism revenue
During the first half of the year the top five nationalities in term of spending in Singapore are Indonesia, China, India, Australia, and Japan.
Weilin Dai, a Senior lecturer at Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic suggests that the Singapore Tourism Board, the hotel industry, and related businesses can employ a comprehensive strategy to stimulate the Chinese market and reverse the current situation.
Revenue in the hotel industry increases 5.2% in the second season
In contrast to the other sectors, the hotel industry showed improvement in the second quarter with revenue from room sales at 800 million RMB, an increase of 5.2% compared with the same period last year.(Translation by David)
