Question for Written Answer
Dr Geh Min, Nominated Member
Question:
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what is the number of tourists visiting Singapore annually over the last 10 years; (b) what was the annual tourist revenue over the same period; (c) what is the breakdown of types of tourists, areas and patterns of spending; (d) what are the significant changes in (a) to (c) above; and (e) what are the projections of the above for the next 10 years.
Answer:
The number of tourists visiting Singapore annually over the last 10 years and the tourism receipts[1] over the same period are shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Visitor Arrivals and Tourism Receipts
Year |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
Visitor Arrivals (million) |
7.3 |
7.2 |
6.2 |
7.0 |
7.7 |
7.5 |
7.6 |
6.1 |
8.3 |
8.9 |
Tourism Receipts (S$ billion) |
11.0 |
10.0 |
8.5 |
9.6 |
10.1 |
9.1 |
8.8 |
6.9 |
9.8 |
10.8 |
The top five source markets for Singapore in 2005 were Indonesia, China, Australia, Japan and India, accounting for 50% of total visitor arrivals. In 2004 (based on latest available statistics), Leisure visitors formed the largest category (54%) of visitor arrivals to Singapore, followed by BTMICE[2] visitors (26%). Shopping formed the largest share (50%) of visitor expenditure in 2004, followed by Accommodation (22%) and F&B (14%). There have not been major changes in these broad expenditure patterns over the past five years.
With the growing economies of China and India, we are welcoming more visitors from these two countries. Visitor arrivals from China and India increased at an average annual growth rate of 15.9% and 12.4% between 1996 and 2005 to become Singapore’s 2nd and 5th largest source markets respectively by 2005. This is in contrast to 1996 when China and India were not among the top 10 source markets for Singapore. Visitor arrivals from ASEAN countries such as Vietnam and Philippines have also increased rapidly between 1996 and 2005, registering an average annual growth rate of 23.9% and 8.5% respectively. More details on Singapore’s visitor profile can be found in the Annual Report on Tourism Statistics, 2004 (latest available) published by STB[3].
STB has set bold targets under its Tourism 2015 vision to attract 17 million visitors and generate S$30 billion in tourism receipts by 2015. STB also estimates that 100,000 tourism-related jobs will be created by 2015. Moving forward, STB will continue to work closely with the tourism industry to target the key customer segments (i.e. Leisure, BTMICE, Healthcare and Education) in our main source markets to achieve the Tourism 2015 targets.
[1]Tourism receipts comprise mainly Total Expenditure of Visitors (TEV), and include expenditure from transit passengers, foreign air/sea crew and foreign students. TEV refers to any expenditure incurred by visitors during their stay in Singapore as well as the amount they prepaid on components such as accommodation and sightseeing tours before arrival.
[2]Business Travel, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions.
[3]Refer to the “Tourism Resource Centre” link in STB’s website www.stb.com.sg to purchase a copy.