S'pore's visitor arrivals down more than 70%

S'pore's visitor arrivals down more than 70%

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Singapore's visitor arrivals were down more than 70 percent in
the first 19 days of May from a year ago due to the health scare
sparked by the SARS outbreak, tourism authorities said Tuesday.

Arrivals for the period fell 73 percent or 100,700 with the
city-state's top 12 sources of visitors all posting sharp
declines of 50-94 percent, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)
said.

"Travel advisories and alerts by various countries, as well as
the cancellation of events contributed to the decline in visitor
arrivals over the period of 1-19 May," the STB said in a
statement.

Measured on a percentage basis, China, Japan, Hong Kong, the
United States and Australia recorded the biggest declines of more
than 76 percent, it said.

The latest STB figures reflect the severity of the SARS-
induced business slump inflicted on Singapore's tourism and
transportation-related sectors.

Singapore is among the worst hit from the outbreak of Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) with 31 dead -- the fourth
highest death toll globally -- out of 206 cases.

The STB said recently visitor arrivals this year are expected
to drop between 30 to 40 percent this year from 2002 due to the
SARS epidemic.

The tourism and transport-related sectors account for about
8.2 percent of Singapore's gross domestic product and 12 percent
of total employment.