Cruise, along with business travel and meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (BTMICE) and hotels are the three key drivers.
The cruise sector is a significant contributor with total passenger throughput at a high of 1.87m – a 35% increase from 2017.
The higher passenger throughput was due to the year-round deployment of Genting Dream and extended sailings from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas.
STB and Changi Airport partnerships
‘Our partnership with Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Changi Airport Group to promote Genting Dream's Singapore sailings has borne fruit. Genting Dream has had a successful inaugural year-round homeport season and we have seen strong demand from cruise passengers in the region,’ said Kent Zhu, president, Genting Cruise Lines.
‘With even bigger ships such as Dream Cruises' Global-class vessels joining our fleet from 2021, we will continue to work with STB to grow the cruise industry in Singapore,’ he added.
Chief executive of STB, Keith Tan, said, ‘We are pleased that Singapore's tourism sector performed well in 2018 despite some economic uncertainties. We were fortunate to have benefited from a confluence of positive factors such as strong Asia-Pacific travel demand, increased flight connectivity to Singapore, and various high-profile events.’
Tourist spending grew but was slowed by declines in shopping (14%), accommodation (5%) and food & beverage (4%). These were partially offset by growths in sightseeing, entertainment & gaming (6%) and other components such as airfare revenue via local-based carriers.
14 out of Singapore's top 15 markets registered growth in 2018 with seven – China, India, Philippines, UK, USA, Vietnam, and Germany – hitting record-high visitor arrivals.
India cruise arrivals spiked
China (6%), Indonesia (2%) and India (13%) continued to be the top three contributing markets for visitor arrivals to Singapore. For China and India, there was growth from both tier one and tier two cities, due to strong travel demand and increased flight connectivity.
In particular, cruise arrivals from India spiked 27%.
For 2019, STB forecasts tourism receipts to be in the range of S$27.3 to S$27.9bn (up between 1-3%) and international visitor arrivals to be in the range of 18.7 to 19.2m (between 1-4% rise).
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