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Singapore Tourism Report Q4 2011
Business Monitor International, Oct 2011, Pages: 66
Another Strong Year In Prospect Tourist arrivals to Singapore soared over the first seven months of 2011. A total of 7,626,188 foreign tourists arrived over January-July, an increase of 15.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to data from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). Against this backdrop, we are happy to maintain our forecast of a 12% increase in tourist arrivals for the year as a whole, with perhaps some slight risks to the upside in the final quarter of the year.
Looking at individual source markets, there was particularly strong growth in arrivals from China (up by 38.4% y-o-y), Taiwan (up 22.5% y-o-y) and Indonesia (up 15.3% y-o-y).
From this strong arrivals data it is clear that Singapore is benefiting from the addition of the new Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands integrated resorts, which are doing much to attract tourists to the country. We believe that Singapore's tourism success should continue beyond 2011 as more people choose to visit the new resorts, particularly from neighbouring Asian countries. However, we would expect the rate of growth in tourist arrivals to moderate over 2013-2015.
Hotel Industry In Good Shape Upbeat tourist arrivals data is helping the country's hotel industry. The average occupancy rate was 93% in July, according to data from the STB, underlining how strong demand is even after the addition of several thousand new rooms to the national supply as a result of the two integrated resorts opening.
At the luxury end of the market, two hotels are set to open over the coming months: the 333-room Bay Hotel Singapore in Sentosa (October 2011) and the 250-room W Hotel Sentosa Cove (April 2012). The Bay Hotel Singapore is within easy reach of the Resorts World Sentosa casino and its other leisure activities. The hotel also has three restaurants, a swimming pool and a gym. The W Hotel Sentosa Cove will have 1,500m2 of meeting space and a state-of-the-art fitness centre and spa.
At the other end of the market, Accor Hotels fully opened the Ibis Singapore Novena in mid-2011, following a soft opening in April. The 241-room property is the second Ibis hotel in Singapore, following the Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen that opened in Q109.
Looking further forward, the multi-use Asia Square development, which is expected to be finished in 2013, will include a 280-room Westin Hote. Even later in the decade, the South Beach commercial/residential development project, which is expected to be finished in 2016, will include two hotels.
Government Upbeat On Tourism Outlook In March, the Senior Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Education, S. Iswaran, made a speech at Singapore's Tourism Industry Conference 2011 setting out the general tourism aims for the coming year. While acknowledging the strong performance of the sector in 2010, when over 11.6mn tourists visited, he also spoke about the need for Singapore to address the challenges posed by other Asian countries, which are investing heavily in areas such as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) travel, theme parks and cruise terminals.
Iswaran identified three areas where Singapore can continue to excel: innovation, integration and productivity. Innovation involves taking steps to attract greater numbers of high net worth individuals to the city state, with Iswaran highlighting personalised concierge services and luxury cabins on the Singapore Cable Car as examples.
Integration involves the better cross-promotion of tourism services. Iswaran used business travellers meeting at the Suntec centre by day and then visiting the restaurants and other leisure options offered at Resorts World Sentosa by night as an example. The See Singapore Attractions Pass, which offers unlimited visits to 20 attractions around the city-state was another example of innovation. Iswaran also said Singapore must continue to increase productivity in the hospitality sector by increasing training and skills among the local workforce.
BMI applauds this focus on improving Singapore's tourism offering, which is already one of the strongest in the region. Underlining Singapore's attractiveness as a tourism destination, the city-state came first in the Asia Pacific region in the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report for 2011. It was also ranked 10th worldwide. Singapore scored particularly well in the criteria for transport infrastructure and the quality of human resources.
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