Haze devastates tourism

Haze devastates tourism

SINGAPORE (DPA): Smoke haze and Southeast Asia's currency crisis have dealt a staggering double blow to Singapore's tourism industry, news reports said yesterday.

The number of tourist arrivals in October dropped to 495,327, a 17.6-per-cent drop from 600,902 in the same month in 1996.

Officials said they fear the island republic may see in 1997, its first full-year drop in the number of tourists in 14 years.

"There is a likelihood that we may see negative growth this year," Singapore Tourism Board representative Michael Lim said in a report published by the Straits Times newspaper.

"Without the haze, we would have no problems meeting our target growth for this year," he said.

The board had predicted growth of between 3 and 5 percent in 1997 over last year's total of 7.29 million tourist arrivals.