Singapore visitor arrivals up 15.7% in Q1 2011

Visitor arrivals to Singapore had reached 3.12 million in Q1 2011, representing a 15.7% year-on-year growth.

All three months in Q1 2011 saw record high arrivals with January registering the largest increase. March however remains the top visitor-generating month in Q1 2011.

Visitor Days were estimated at 11.7 million days, a growth of 12% in comparison with the same quarter last year.

Indonesia (577,000), P.R. China (412,000), Malaysia (256,000), Australia (222,000), and India (171,000) were Singapore’s top five international visitor-generating markets in Q1 2011. These markets accounted for 53% of total visitor arrivals for the quarter.

Hong Kong (+42%), the Philippines (+39%) and Thailand (+38%) registered the highest growth out of the top 15 markets.

Gazetted hotel room revenue was estimated at Sin$478 million, representing an increase of 9.8% compared to the same quarter a year ago.

March 2011 posted the highest ARR, AOR and RevPAR in Q1 2011, displaying a consistent trend when compared against Q1 2010.

ARR stood at Sin$226 in Q1 2011, a year-on-year increase of 13.9%. Room rates for all hotel tiers rose, with the Economy tier charting the highest increase of 24.2%. AOR posted a 1.3 percentage point increase over Q1 2010 to reach 85% in Q1 2011. AOR in the Upscale and Economy tiers grew by 2.1 and 3.9 percentage points respectively in Q1 2011.

Robust performance in both ARR and AOR resulted in a 15.7% growth in RevPAR, which stood at Sin$191 in Q1 2011. The Economy tier is the top performer in terms of RevPAR in Q1 2011, having outperformed the other tiers in AOR and ARR.

Tourism receipts for Q1 2011 were estimated to reach Sin$4.98 billion, registering a 35.7% year-on-year growth.

All TR components saw positive year-on-year growth, with sightseeing and entertainment (including gaming) posting the highest growth of 321%. Final estimates for TR for January to December 2010 are Sin$18.9 billion, a 50% year-on-year growth. This exceeded the forecasted 2010 range of Sin$17.5 to Sin$18.5 billion.

Excluding sightseeing and entertainment expenditure, Indonesia (Sin$2,604 million), P.R. China (Sin$1,644 million), Australia (Sin$1,002 million), India (Sin$911 million) and Malaysia (Sin$767 million) were Singapore’s top five TR generating markets for 2010.