- Singapore’s tourism sector remained resilient in 2021, ready to welcome international visitors in 2022 and beyond
- Indonesia amongst the top three visitor source markets in 2021, with encouraging signs of growth
Singapore’s international visitor arrivals (IVA) and tourism receipts (TR) reached 330,000 and an estimated $1.9 billion[1] respectively in 2021. While these numbers represent only a fraction of Singapore’s tourism performance prior to the pandemic, there have been encouraging signs of recovery in the tourism sector, with year-on-year growth in the last three quarters of 2021.
The introduction of various travel arrangements, such as Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs), has encouraged the gradual return of international travellers.
Mr Keith Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said: “While it will take time for tourism numbers to return to pre-pandemic levels, we are encouraged by the resilience of our tourism businesses, and their commitment to preserve good jobs, transform their businesses, and invest in new products and experiences.”
“These efforts will strengthen Singapore’s appeal as we prepare to welcome more international visitors. We must anticipate setbacks and challenges even as the tourism industry recovers slowly. But I am confident that the tourism industry has learnt from its experiences and is poised to recapture demand when it returns.”
2021 Tourism Performance
Singapore’s tourism sector recorded overall year-on-year declines in IVA and TR, largely due to the effect of strong tourism performance in the first two months of 2020[2]. IVA increased 221 per cent in the last three quarters of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020. TR for the second and third quarter of 2021 is 92 per cent higher than the same period in 2020.
Between January and December 2021, 330,000 international visitors arrived in Singapore. China (88,000), India (54,000) and Indonesia (33,000) were the top three visitor source markets in 2021. TR reached $1.2 billion between January and September 2021[3], with visitors from China, Indonesia and India contributed $432
million, $127 million and $58 million in TR (excluding Sightseeing, Entertainment and Gaming)[4] respectively.
Key Industry Performance
Hotels Industry Performance
In 2021, several new hotels with unique lifestyle concepts opened in Singapore, such as The Clan, Duxton Reserve and Oasia Resort Sentosa.
