Singapore falls to fifth place in top cities rankings

This was blamed on tighter competition across major Asian cities.

Singapore eased down one spot to rank fifth in the top 100 city destinations global list for 2018 as regional competition tightened, according to the latest report by Euromonitor International.

Growth in the number of tourists buoyed the island city to remain in the top five. Visitor arrivals rose by 5.3% YoY in 2018, driven by increased regional travel and strong growth in the cruise sector, said Rabia Yasmeen, senior analyst and project lead travel at Euromonitor International.

Arrivals from China, India, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the US, Vietnam and Germany continued to expand, which Yasmeen attributed to Singapore’s tourism strategy and increased focus on working closely with partners across the travel sector.

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However, it lost one place in the rankings as other cities in Asia ramped up its competitiveness.

Hong Kong and Bangkok continues to lead the list and are expected to remain in the top spot in 2019, despite ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong. London and Macau ranked third and fourth, respectively.

Singapore is notedly developing stronger partnerships with regional tourism boards, leading travel agencies such as JTB Corporation and Trip.com and technology companies such as Alipay, Spotify, Traveloka and Sentosa. These partnerships should help the city maintain its spot on the list, said Yasmeen.

Additionally, Singapore is also aiming to market its authentic local experience to offer authenticity and variety to appeal to the developing visitor preferences through its global ‘Passion Made Possible’ campaign.

Asia notably continues to outpace other regions, accounting for 43 of the 100 cities, rising from just 34 cities five years ago. Global inbound arrivals are expected to grow by 4.2% to 1.5 billion trips in 2019, with the top 100 cities comprising nearly 47% of global arrivals and growing by 6.2% during the same year.

Euromonitor International’s Top 100 City Destinations research highlights the top 100 cities based on 2018 international tourist arrivals. The number includes international arrivals by city who arrive at the city under review as their first point of entry, and also foreign visitors to the city who arrived in the country via a different point of entry, but then go on to visit the city in question during their trip.