S'pore' January tourist arrivals up

S'pore' January tourist arrivals up

SINGAPORE: Tourist arrivals in Singapore numbered 666,994 in January, a 2.3 percent hike over the same month last year with Indonesia the top visitor-generating market, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Monday.

Indonesia's 146,000 arrivals were far ahead of second-place Australia with 62,000, Japan's 48,000, the U.K.'s 48,000 and China's 46,000.

The five markets accounted for 52.5 percent of total visitors for the month.

Double-digit declines in visitors from China, Hong Kong and South Korea were "partly attributed to the impact of the tsunami" which devastated coastal communities in 11 countries on Dec. 26, the STB said.

Singapore, which was not hit by the earthquake-triggered killer waves, still posted an estimated S$932 million (US$571 million) in tourism receives in January, a 10.9 percent increase over the same month in 2004. -- DPA