Fewer tourists to S'pore

Fewer tourists to S'pore

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore tourist arrivals fell 3.8 percent year-on-year to 612,800 in April, caught by downturns in its two biggest markets, Indonesia and Japan, the Singapore Tourism Board said Monday.

A weakening rupiah made overseas travel too expensive for Indonesians and "cautious consumer sentiments" affected Japanese travel plans, it said

Arrivals from Indonesia in April fell 5.6 percent to 94,433 while Japanese numbers were down 3.6 percent to 58,340.

Tourists from neighboring Malaysia, the city-state's fourth biggest market, also fell with just 45,897 arrivals, down 4.4 percent.

In the first four months of the year, arrivals grew a modest 0.5 percent to 2.52 million visitors from a year ago.

Although Indonesian visitors were down 5.7 percent in the January-April period, the country retained its position as Singapore's leading visitor-generating market with 415,315 arrivals.

Japan numbers contracted 4.8 percent to 281,683 tourists, while the third biggest market, Britain, bucked the downward trend to post a strong 14 percent jump to 179,894 arrivals in the first four months.