SINGAPORE, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Both Singapore's visitor arrivals and tourism receipt hit record high of 16.4 million and 24.8 billion Singapore dollars (17.48 billion U.S. dollars) respectively in 2016, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said on Tuesday.
The number of visitors grew 7.7 percent to 16.4 million last year, while tourism receipt rose 13.9 percent to 24.8 billion Singapore dollars, based on preliminary estimate by STB.
A total of 24.8 million tourists visited Singapore in the first nine months of the year, 13.9 percent higher than the same period last year. Indonesia, China and Malaysia are the top three source of visitors to the country for 2016.
The agency said travelers from China, India and Indonesia witnessed absolute growth of 36 percent, 8 percent and 6 percent respectively. In particular, India overtook Australia to become Singapore's fourth largest source market for visitor arrivals.
In term of tourism receipt, STB said the country recorded 24.8 billion Singapore dollars in 2016, a 13.9- percent increase from the previous year. It noted that the strong tourism receipt results came on the back of visitors spending more on Food and Beverage, Shopping and Accommodation.
Specifically, China ranked top in tourism receipts to see an increase of 41 percent, followed by India at 37 percent and Indonesia at 14 percent from January to September 2016.
In addition, the business events and cruise sectors both made double-digit year-on-year growth. More than 410 business events were held in 2016, which brought 28 percent increase in revenue, while cruise passenger through rose 16 percent to about 1.2 million.
STB's chief executive Lionel Yeo said the agency was heartened as Singapore has managed to attract more quality visitors to contribute to economic growth despite challenges such as a weaker economic performance in some of Singapore's top source markets and a Zika virus outbreak last year.
