by Jared Heng
International visitor arrivals in Singapore totalled 13.2 million last year, up 13.8 per cent from 2010, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Tuesday.
The figure also beat the official forecast of between 12 million and 13 million, with the majority of visitors coming from Asia.
Tourism receipts were estimated at a record S$22.2 billion for 2011. However, this was at the lower end of STB’s forecast range of S$22 billion to S$24 billion.
The most number of visitors ‒ 2,592,000 ‒ came from Indonesia, followed by China at 1,577,000.
Visitors from Malaysia totalled 1,141,000 ‒ the third-highest number ‒ followed by Australia (956,000) and India (869,000).
Sightseeing and entertainment, including visits to the two local casinos, recorded the biggest year-on-year growth in tourism receipts.
The sector registered about S$5.5 billion in tourism receipts last year, up 37 per cent from 2010.
Hotel room revenue for 2011 came in at an estimated S$2.6 billion, representing a
27.8-per cent year-on-year growth.
Despite the robust number last year, STB said it expects growth of visitor arrivals to moderate this year due to the global economic uncertainty.
