Tourism Numbers Drop for the Third Consecutive Month Amid Seasonal Trends
Singapore’s tourism sector has seen a continued decline in international visitor arrivals, with a recorded 1.13 million visitors in October 2023. This marked the third consecutive month of decreasing numbers, following a slight dip from the 1.13 million recorded in September. Despite the decrease, this year’s October figures were still a 37.8% increase compared to October 2022, when Singapore welcomed just 816,833 visitors.
The patterns of tourist arrivals this year have shown typical seasonal fluctuations, with a noticeable uptick in the months of July and August, largely driven by inbound visitors from China. However, this surge tapered off in September and October, following a seasonal trend that also occurred in pre-pandemic years, according to DBS analyst Geraldine Wong.
Notably, Indonesia continued to be the leading source of visitors to Singapore, with 180,881 tourists arriving from the country in October. This was a slight increase from 175,601 visitors in September. China followed as the second-largest source of tourists, contributing 122,764 visitors to Singapore, though this was a decrease from 135,677 in the prior month.
The dip in arrivals from China has been partially attributed to safety concerns over traveling to neighboring Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Japan, prompting some travelers to redirect their trips to Singapore instead. However, this shift in travel behavior may not have been enough to fully counterbalance the seasonal downturn, with Golden Week, the national holiday in China, seeing many Chinese citizens opt to travel domestically rather than internationally.
In a shift from previous months, India emerged as the third-largest source of visitors in October, surpassing Malaysia and Australia. A total of 94,332 visitors came from India in October, a notable increase from 81,014 in September. This marks India’s growing importance as a tourism market for Singapore, especially as other traditional markets like China experience fluctuations.
Malaysia, which had been the third-largest source of visitors earlier in the year, recorded 88,641 arrivals in October, a slight decrease from 89,384 in September. Australia, another key market for Singapore, also saw a decline, with 88,032 visitors from the country, down from 104,497 in the previous month.
Despite these declines, Singapore’s overall tourist numbers remain relatively strong for the year. As of October 2023, the country has recorded approximately 11.3 million international visitor arrivals. This is still within the target range set by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which expects to hit between 12 million and 14 million arrivals by the end of 2023.
The STB remains optimistic that with the year-end holidays approaching, tourism numbers will see an uptick, especially in key markets such as Indonesia and India. However, the ongoing decline in certain visitor sources raises questions about the sustainability of Singapore’s tourism recovery in the coming months. It remains to be seen if the country will meet its visitor arrival targets by the end of the year, as global travel patterns continue to evolve post-pandemic.
