Singapore tourism defies the odds

UNWTO recently warned a slowdown in the growth of international tourism in the remainder of the year as global uncertainty lingers but SG is poised to back the trend, says Singapore Tourism Board.

“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, and going by the encouraging results of Q1 2011, the STB remains confident of achieving our 2011 public forecasts of S$22 to S$24 billion in tourism receipts (TR) and 12 to 13 million in international visitor arrivals (IVA),” STB’s Director of Communications Oliver Chong told Singapore Business Review.

Latest data from STB show that Q1 2011 produced record results of an estimated S$4.98 billion in tourism receipts or 35.7% year-on-year growth and around 3.12 million of international visitor arrivals or a 15.7% annual increase.

Mr. Chong noted that the optimistic outlook is driven by current indicators showing that Asia appears to be well primed to be a strong growth engine for global tourism.

“According to the UNWTO, following the global recession, Asia was the first region to recover and was also ranked as the strongest growing regions in 2010. Growth in the region is also expected to continue in 2011, but at a slower pace,” he said.

“UNWTO forecasts that Asia will grow by 7 to 9% in international visitor arrivals this year,” he added.
To work towards long term sustainability for future growth meanwhile, the STB according to Mr. Chong is shifting its focus to quality tourism and value creation for our visitors.

“This means better understanding the needs of our visitors’, working with our industry to strengthen capabilities and enhancing the delivery of innovative products and experiences to better address the needs of our visitors, as well as improving capabilities of our service workforce to deliver the intended value propositions,” he said.

“In totality, this will enable us to achieve outcomes of growing stronger and better tourism companies, and maintaining a sustainable contribution to our economy,” he added.