Tourist arrivals drop 5.3%

Tourist arrivals drop 5.3%

SINGAPORE (AFP): Visitor arrivals in Singapore fell 5.3 percent from a year earlier to 506,950 in November with the number of tourists from Southeast Asia falling markedly, the Singapore Tourism Board said Monday.

Arrivals from member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) fell 16.7 percent as the region remained in the grip of a deep economic slump triggered by the currency crisis which erupted in mid-1997.

The board attributed the big regional decline to a 27.1 percent fall in arrivals from Malaysia, the largest drop to date, as travelers from the neighboring country continued to spend their holidays at home.

Persistent social problems and the economic malaise surrounding Indonesia also deterred travelers, the board said.

In Thailand, however, a gradually stabilizing currency encouraged traffic to show continued growth for the fourth month running, rising 10.9 percent in November.