Singapore arrivals drop 4%

Singapore arrivals drop 4%

SINGAPORE: Visitor arrivals to Singapore dropped 4 percent in
February from a year earlier because of a sharp fall in tourists
from China and Hong Kong, the tourism board said on Monday.

The city-state attracted 591,007 travelers during the month,
but arrivals from China declined 43 percent on-year to 51,000
while Hong Kong numbers dipped 30 percent to 17,000, the
Singapore Tourism Board said in a statement.

It said Indonesians, numbering 119,000 in February, accounted
for the largest number of visitors. Holidaymakers from
Singapore's large Southeast Asian neighbor jumped 20 percent on-
year, which the tourism board attributed to two major public
holidays in Indonesia.

Business arrivals jumped 25 percent on-year in February but
failed to make up for the tourist shortfall, the board said
without elaborating.

Singapore's tourism sector is worth S$9 billion (US$5.3
billion) annually and is one of the mainstays of the resource-
poor island nation.--AP