Haze cuts tourist visits to Singapore

Haze cuts tourist visits to Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Tourist arrivals in Singapore slipped sharply in October because of smog that has enveloped Southeast Asia in recent months, state television said yesterday.

The television quoted the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) as saying tourist numbers fell 17.6 percent last month. It gave no detailed figures.

The TV report said the STB did not expect tourist arrivals to pick up any time in the near future.

The STB was not immediately available for comment.

The onset of the northern hemisphere winter has brought monsoon rains in recent days, clearing Singapore's skies of the smog, caused by forest fires and land burning in Indonesia.

The outlook for Singapore's tourism industry was still hazy for coming months, the TV report said, adding that negative worldwide publicity over the smog had hit tourism throughout Southeast Asia.

Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian visitors stayed away from Singapore because of flight cancellations due to low visibility from the smog and due to the regional currency crisis that has depressed the value of their currencies, state television said.

The Singapore dollar has slipped in past months but not as badly as the currencies of its neighbors, making it a relatively more expensive destination.