Singapore witnesses 16% growth in Indian arrivals
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For the third time in a row, Visitor Arrivals from India in to Singapore has crossed the one million mark, reinforcing it as one of the most preferred destinations for Indian travellers. Singapore Tourism Board announced that India, for the first time, has moved up from fourth to third place (ahead of Malaysia and behind China, Indonesia) as a source market for Singapore. It recorded the highest growth rate of 16 per cent among all markets. Six others out of the top 15 markets, including China (+13 per cent), Vietnam (+13 per cent) and USA (+9 per cent) also saw record high visitor arrival.
While Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore continue to remain their top source cities, STB’s efforts to engage travellers from cities like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Pune have resulted in double-digit growth from these cities.
India continued to be the top source market for visitor arrivals in the cruise segment for Singapore. 127,000 cruise passengers from India sailed out of Singapore’s shores in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent from 2016.
2018 has already begun on an exciting note for STB with the recently concluded roadshows at Mumbai and Jaipur, followed by participation in SATTE 2018 in Delhi. Taking the brand identity forward, STB India’s activities this year will be centered around the theme ‘With Passion, Forging New Possibilities.’
GB Srithar, Regional Director - SAMEA, Singapore Tourism Board said, “We thank the Indian travellers and our travel trade partners for the record 1.27 million Indian visitors to our country in 2017. We are happy that Singapore continues to be perceived as one of the must-visit destinations. This year, STB will focus on deepening and expanding our partnership with our travel trade partners and promoting our new brand creatively and effectively. We will continue to showcase Singapore’s diverse offerings and connect with key audience segments including families, early and established careers, cruise travellers, meetings and incentive groups and travellers from the key metro and secondary cities. With overall tourist outbound from India on the rise, we look forward to another successful year of Indian visitorship to Singapore. We warmly welcome them to live up their passion for exciting travel experiences in our city.”