Tourism activity poised to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024

In 2022, Singapore welcomed 6.3 million tourists.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) expects tourism activity in the Lion City to reach pre-pandemic levels by next year.

This after international visitor arrivals (IVA) reached 6.3 million in 2022.

Given the number of IVA, STB expects tourism receipts (TR) for 2022 to reach $13.8b to $14.3b. As of end-September 2022, TR was already at $8.96b.

Last year, visitor arrivals were driven by Indonesia (1.1 million), India (686,000) and Malaysia (591,000). 

Indonesia and India, along with Australia, were also the top TR-generating markets of Singapore, contributing $1.1b, $704m, and $633m, respectively.

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Meanwhile, STB also observed that tourists are “spending more time in Singapore compared to before the pandemic."

From April 2022 to December 2022, the average length of stay of tourists was approximately 4.81 days, a significant increase compared to 3.36 days for the same period in 2019.

In 2023, STB expects the tourism sector’s growth momentum to continue on the back of increasing flight connectivity and capacity and China’s gradual reopening. 

The agency expects IVA to reach around 12 million to 14 million visitors by the end of the year.