Singapore’s tourism recovers in Q1

Although the number of visitors has not yet fully recovered, tourists have stayed longer in the country – 3.97 days on average, up from 3.34 days in 2019, according to Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

To attract more travelers, STB will work with stakeholders to ensure that Singapore has a good mix of high-quality attractions, hotels, events, tour experiences and other high quality services.

When the tourism sector recovers, Singapore will focus on six key areas, including efforts to turn the “lion island” into a MICE (a type of tourism that combines meetings, incentives, conferences and events) destination and an ideal destination for families, the board said.

STB said it hopes to receive between 12-14 million international arrivals this year with full tourism recovery expected by 2024. Revenue from the tourism sector is anticipated to hit SGD18-21 billion (US$13.53-15.79 billion).

There were 19.1 million tourists to Singapore in 2019 and tourism revenue hit SGD27.7 billion.

Vietnam received 2.7 million foreign visitors in the first quarter, and Thailand 6.15 million.