Tourists' spending swells 12% to $11.6b in H1

More than a quarter was spent for shopping.

Singapore's tourism sector continued to grow during the first half of the year, as the latest figures from the tourism board (STB) showed.

From January to June 2016, International Visitor Arrivals (IVA) increased 13% over the same period last year to 8.2 million visitors. Tourism Receipts (TR) also grew by 12%, reaching $11.6 billion.

"The strong growth in 1H 2016 TR was on the back of higher expenditure in Shopping, Accommodation and Food & Beverage. This helped to offset the fall in Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming (SEG) that was due largely to a decline in gaming revenue as reported by the integrated resorts," STB stated in their quarterly report.

Shopping expenditure grew 44% from the same period last year as receipts for Food and Beverage soar 28%. Accommodation expenditure also expanded by 25%. However, Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming expenditure declined 17% in the first half of 2016.

"Excluding expenditure on Sightseeing, Entertainment & Gaming (SEG), China (S$1,727 million), Indonesia (S$1,242 million) and India (S$759 million) were the top three TR generating markets for January to June 2016, contributing 39 per cent of TR (excluding SEG)," STB said.

The board furthered," Among the top 10 TR markets, China, Indonesia and India registered the highest absolute year-on-year growth in TR (excluding SEG)."

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