Singapore tourist arrivals drop

Singapore tourist arrivals drop

SINGAPORE: Visitor arrivals in Singapore slumped five percent
in July from a year ago, but China remained the star performer
against the trend with a double-digit jump, authorities said
Tuesday.

"Traffic from China continued to grow as a result of the
country's strong economic performance," the Singapore Tourism
Board said.

Chinese arrivals were up 12.2 percent, with a significant 42.3
percent increase in the number of repeat visitors, said the
board.

Of the 679,198 people who arrived in Singapore in July,
Indonesians topped the list with 139,863 arrivals, up three
percent from the same period in 2001.

Japanese contributed the second largest number of arrivals at
66,529, down 12.9 percent, making it the biggest decline of the
12 markets covered by the board in the monthly monitor of
arrivals.

Australia ranked third with 54,239, down 2.2 percent followed
by China with 51,144.

Neighbouring Malaysia was fifth with 41,145, posting the
second biggest drop behind Japan. -- AFP