Singapore continues to grow as a global tourism hotspot – from both UK and global visitors – according to the first performance figures for 2017, released by the Singapore Tourism Board. 

The figures, for Q1 2017, show an increase in international visitor arrivals of 4% when compared like-for-like to the same period in 2016 – reaching a total of 4.3m visitors.

Britain was the ninth largest source market for visitors to Singapore, with 159,000 Brits visiting the city state in Jan-Mar 2017. This demonstrates year-on-year growth of 5%.

The increase in arrivals was supplemented by a marked increase in ‘tourism receipts’, which has grown by 15% to S$6.4bn. In addition, average occupancy rate grew by 1.3% year-on-year to 86%.

Singapore’s shopping scene was the largest contributor to tourism receipts and accounted for S$1.6bn of the spend – an increase of 38% on the previous year.

Tourism Receipts from accommodation, and food and beverage, were up 18% and 14% respectively, whilst sightseeing, entertainment and gaming remained level.

Amongst British visitors, accommodation was the largest single contributor accounting for 38% – compared to 17% for shopping.

Mr. Jason Chan, area director, Northern & Western Europe; Singapore Tourism Board, said: “We are delighted to see that Singapore continues to satisfy travellers’ passions as a destination. Whether our visitors are Foodies, Explorers or Collectors, we are pleased to see that our UK trade partnerships and marketing efforts are yielding continued and growing interest in Singapore as a destination in its own right, and that our world-renowned attractions such as Gardens by the Bay, UNESCO World Heritage Site the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and Michelin-starred hawker food, resonate well with our British visitors.”