Updated on June 4, 2022 by Axel Hernborg

Axel Hernborg

Singapore is known to be a beautiful city that is made up of not one but sixty-four islands that surround one main island. This breathtaking island as a whole has been a major tourist attraction since time immemorial as it boasts of so many unique attractions as well as the experiences it has to offer. Singapore is strategically located right in the heart of South East Asia and it has a not only popular but also efficient airport which makes it a desirable destination for many travelers around the world. Covid-19 hit the whole world and this country was not excluded. Since 2019, it has faced a number of changes in regard to its tourism sector and it is continuing to change now that the world is opening up. Discussed below are some of the most important trends and statistics surrounding tourism in Singapore.

Pre and post-pandemic trends for Singapore tourism

  1. Before the outbreak of covid-19, Singapore was maintaining its rank being the world’s #26 country based on the arrivals of tourists and #8 based on the arrivals of international tourists in the region of Asia Pacific.
  2. Singapore made approximately twenty-one billion dollars in its tourism receipts in 2019.
  3. Gardens by the Bay in Singapore were registered as the most popular and top-rated tourist attraction pre-pandemic.
  4. The country had its borders closed in March 2020 as they were trying to control any spread of Covid-19.
  5. Before Covid-19 began to affect travel, Singapore had received 1.69 million international visitors which was 3.9% more than the previous year.
  6. In 2020, the tourism faced a loss of up to 78.4% between the months of January and September as the country only made 4.4 billion dollars
  7. In 2020, the total number of international tourists who visited Singapore was around 2.8 million.
  8. This number was a huge decline in comparison to 2019 when a total of 19.2 million international tourists visited the country.
  9. In April 2020, Singapore recorded the lowest number of arrivals ever, which was only seven hundred and fifty.
  10. Due to the decline in visitors, the revenues of hotels also tanked in 2020 by 71.2%.
  11. The average room rate fell by 31.3% in 2020 compared to 2019.
  12. The average occupancy also fell by 56.75%.
  13. The tourists who were in the country by the 9th of April were made to self-isolate for fourteen days at various hotels.
  14. During this period, shopping was the least allocated for tourist spending, as it went down to 84%.
  15. The shopping revenues for the first quarter of 2020 were six hundred and fifty-six dollars, the second quarter only recorded six million dollars while the last quarter recorded ten million dollars.
  16. The pandemic led to Singapore’s tourism sector giving more attention to domestic tourism.
  17. Initiatives were launched following focusing on domestic tourism such as the SingapoRediscovers Vouchers scheme as well as the SingapoRediscovers campaign in 2020.
  18. Singaporeans as well as residents were encouraged to spend money on domestic hotels and attraction sites.
  19. The average occupancy rate for the hotels in Singapore in 2021 was 1% lower than that of 2020, although 2020 enjoyed having two months of the borders open before the lockdown.
  20. The Tourism Board of Singapore shared that roughly 1.9 million residents made use of their SingapoRedisover vouchers which resulted in around three hundred million dollars in transactions.
  21. The performance of the tourism industry in Singapore in the last quarter of 2021 increased by a whopping 221% in comparison to 2020.
  22. Both the international and domestic tourism in Singapore are showing promising and continuous growth in 2022.
  23. There were several hotels that got opened in 2021 in Singapore such as Duxton Reserves, The Clan as well as Oasia Resort Sentosa.
  24. The total revenue in Singapore’s Travel industry is projected to reach 2.84 billion this year.
  25. The revenue of the Travel industry is expected to grow annually at a rate of 11.99% annually which will then lead to a projected market volume of approximately 4.4 billion dollars by the year 2026.
  26. 78% of the total revenue in the Travel and Tourism market in Singapore by 2026 is set to be generated from online sales.

The mode of transport trends and statistics

  1. Singapore, like most countries in Asia, took a cautious approach to Covid-19 and this caused a general decrease in their international passenger traffic.
  2. The cruise sector of Singapore tourism took a hit during the pandemic, only recording 409,564 passengers which is almost 1.5 million fewer people than in 2019.
  3. In 2020, the passenger ship calls were one hundred and forty-three which was two hundred and seventy-one less than in 2019.
  4. The tourism board has stated that the cruise industry has been able to rebound strongly.
  5. The cruise industry owes this bouncing back to the ‘cruises-to-nowhere’ which was started in 2020 and has become a very famous and successful tourist attraction.
  6. The introduction of initiatives such as Vaccinated Travel Lanes has over time encouraged the return of international travelers.
  7. The sales of flight tickets were set to be capped at 50% of the quotas allocated.

International visitors trends

  1. The countries that had the most number of tourists going to Singapore in 2020 were China, India, Indonesia, the UK, Malaysia, Germany, the USA as well as the Philippines.
  2. Out of the countries mentioned above, the number of tourists from China tanked the most, going down by 88% from the previous year.
  3. The number of tourists from Germany was the one least affected although it reduced by 66%.
  4. Sightseeing, gaming, and entertainment were very popular tourist activities before the pandemic.
  5. The tourist activities mentioned above faced the greatest decline as it had recorded 858 million dollars in the first quarter of the year and then went ahead to only record five million dollars in the second quarter. The last quarter made forty-five million dollars.
  6. Singapore remains number five on the list of the most desirable countries to visit.
  7. In 2020, Singapore reported a decrease in the outbound tourism of its residents to only 1.54 million while that of the previous year was 10.7 million.
  8. 47% of the Singaporean residents stated in 2020 that they were already planning on international travels in the following year while 80% of the country’s residents said that they were spending a lot of their time choosing where to go for travel owing to the pandemic.
  9. Most of the revenue for the Travel industry is predicted to be generated from the U.S. In 2022, it is approximated to be one hundred and twenty-eight billion dollars.

Hospitality trends and statistics in Singapore

  1. Ritz Carlon, Millenia Singapore introduced new and unique services that boost the experiences of their guests. One of these is a unique augmented reality hotel art tour. This means that their visitors are able to completely immerse themselves as well as interact virtually with re-known and distinguished art pieces that were made by famous artists such as Dale Chihuly and Frank Stella.
  2. In 2022, hotels are being seen showing more interest in exploring unique ways to engage and bring their visitors more experiences that are mindblowing.
  3. The Tourism Board of Singapore is working together with the Singapore Hotel Association in designing a sustainable roadmap for all hotels this year which will have its focus on shining the spotlight on urban wellness.
  4. More events are being promoted in 2022. This is because, in 2021, EventsMICE was able to hold more than 200 events that had more than fifty thousand attendees who were both international and local. This positive response is what has led to the promotion.
  5. More events with an expansion in range and sales are expected this 2022 so as to cater to the demand locally as well.
  6. The country intends to produce more lifestyle events in the hope to make Singapore the ideal travel destination for both international and local tourists.
  7. Despite the various restriction in terms of travel in 2021, there are many tourist attractions that were introduced in the last year, for example, the Museum of Ice Cream.
  8. Most of the existing attractions have also been seen to have used the period of the pandemic to expand their services and refresh what they usually have to offer. For example the installation of Marvel Universe at Madam Tussaud’s Singapore and the Wild Wet’s Songkran Festival.
  9. The Tourism industry in Singapore has Package Holidays as its largest segment, having 1.35 billion dollars as the market volume that is projected for 2022.
  10. The number of hotel users is expected to hit at least 4.6 million by 2026.
  11. The user penetration in 2022 is 62.2% and it is expected that by 2026, it will have hit 89.8%.
  12. The ARPU (Average revenue per user) is predicted to amount to 0.75 thousand dollars.
  13. Jewel Changi Airport stated that it will be launching the Jewel-rassic Quest, which is a ticketed AR experience. The attraction will be making use of technology in the creation of interactions and activities that are completely immersive.

Reference

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/25/singapore-says-its-ready-for-2022-travel-demand-when-it-returns.html

https://www.stb.gov.sg/content/stb/en/media-centre/media-releases/Singapores-tourism-sector-remained-resilient-in-2021-ready-for-recovery-in-2022-and-beyond.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tourism_rankings

https://www.corporateservicessingapore.com/singapore-tourism-industry-outlook-for-2022/