Is there a silver lining for Singapore’s tourism industry?

Visitor numbers will inch up in coming years.

Although 2014 marked that first time that tourism arrivals to Singapore decreased since the global financial crisis, analysts at BMI Research remain bullish on the sector’s long-term prospects.

Last year’s blip was impacted not only by a drastic drop in arrivals from key Asia Pacific countries such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia in the wake of several high-profile global air travel disasters and potentially due to the strength of Singapore's local currency, which reduced the regional affordability of Singapore.

“We expect the market to recover in 2015, and total arrivals are expected to increase by 4.2% to reach over 15.7mn. Throughout [2016-2019] we expect to see continued growth in arrivals to Singapore from all regions, with average annual growth of 6.3% leading to a total arrivals figure of 20.1mn,” said BMI.

“Singapore faces stiff competition from other regional destinations, including travel hubs such as Hong Kong and established beach holiday destinations such as Thailand. The government is keen to support the expansion of the tourism industry and initiatives such as the SGD10mn Experience Step-Up Fund set up by the Singapore Tourism Board will help develop the tourism industry and attract more visitors,” BMI added.