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